Land of the Slaying Moon
by rosethornlight
Summary: Aizen should have looked into other reasons as to why Karakura was the "town of the empty seat (throne)". Ichigo just wanted to make sure that June 17th never happened again. Shiranui just wanted a decent priest and Celestial Envoy. Inuyasha, Pompoko, Spirited Away, and Nekogami Yaoyorozu are minor crossovers.
1. Prologue: That Day After the Rain

Disclaimer: I do not own, and will not ever own the parent stories of this fan fiction. I will not make money from this and the rights go to the appropriate people. Also, I am not an expert on Japan's various religions. I am mostly using Wikipedia and Google search for my info. If you see something wrong with what I write, let me know with your source, but I might not change it in this story. And yes, I changed the location of Kamiki Village. Tito Kubo said that Karakura was in western Tokyo and if you go far enough west there are mountain ranges so it works (even if it was likely a reference to other towns natives would get the reference to).

Prologue: That Day After the Rain (雨上り)

The goddess most famously remembered as Shiranui in this region (even if the tale was mostly forgotten when Kamiki village and the surrounding territory became Karakura town and other nearby municipal areas as Tokyo expanded and ages passed), was lounging at her shrine that was closer to Sakuya's Konohana great tree now than it had been after the defeat of Yomi; up on the mountain rather than down in the valley. While she could always go the distance to where her other incarnation's descendants stayed (much closer now that they lived near Tokyo) for nicer accommodations, that would probably turn into work and, as the goddess was taking a well-deserved vacation after the domino fall of events the past century, she was trying to avoid that. She had hoped that the political situation concerning modernization and related problems would calm some after the Bakumetsu, though that thought was ruthlessly stomped on after the many wars with foreign powers accumulating in the war known as the Second World War. While the major gods were able to shake off the majority of the damage to their belief caused by the fall out of that last war, a few well timed pranks in broad daylight that would be witnessed by many but censored out of the occupied nation's news ensured that, a lot of the practice of the beliefs waned.

Many shrines not well known or in well lived areas have been forgotten, and even at those shrines, offerings were only sparingly offered if not actively attended. House shrines and large temples were still in use, but often only the bare minimum was done to insure the upkeep as many of the younger generations purposely ignored them when being taught as children and therefore did not pass the knowledge to the generations after as it was old and irrelevant. Sacred knowledge that should have been passed down to dedicated miko, priests, and other mediums were caught in a tug-of-war between cold academia critics to be argued over the plausibility and reliability of the texts, top secret knowledge of the royal family, and plain greed. And while Shiranui knew that humanity was on the knife edge of their science breaking through the veil of myth and magic and seeing that neither side was wholly wrong after all, she also knew that the other side of that edge will likely cause humanity to fall into cataclysm once more.

What caused Shiranui to go on this vacation now was because it seemed more and more that the goddess and her fellows were only causing more problems by being easily available to the mortal government than by being away. After all, it wasn't like her descendants couldn't contact her in case of emergency. They just needed to use their knowledge and training to pick out the hiding Yatagarasu of the flock of crows at the imperial palace. Unless it is truly dire and Yatagarasu seeks her out on his own. Shiranui knew that her and her human descendants disagreed on what exactly dire was so it was better this way. After all, she was a primary goddess of the _land_ of the rising sun, not the one who stands at the beginning and end of time and fixes all problems to a single person or people's benefit. There was a larger system that needed to operate beyond the scope of Japan; a stock market crash caused by another country's economic failure was not cause for calling on all of a nation's kami spirits to curse them, no matter what her children's government thought of both the Russians and what they did in their spare time. It will just cause it to fail again. And again. And…

Shiranui flicked her ears in interest as a distant sound drifted to her. It sounded like a pained creature that had given up survival and only wished for the predators to snatch it and end its agony. The type of creature did not sound like one that normally lived on these lands, nor even those that weaved their own dimensions for their clans to protect themselves from conflict with humans and had done so since before humans were this numerous. It had nearly the same quality of grief, agony, and loneliness that is known for the various yūrie that most of the Shinigami were now just broadly calling Hollows; but there was something lacking in the sound that made the goddess doubt the accuracy of her assessment. If she was in her human form, Shiranui would have frowned but settled with narrowed eyes and laid back ears as she stalked through the woods and undergrowth.

There was a graveyard reasonably close to where this shrine was now; a beautiful location to appease any lingering dead, despite all the cement humans deemed necessary now-a-days. The large majority of those lingering dead that had been there before Shiranui went on vacation were passed, the celestial wolf having blessed the souls with safe passage to the Soul Society and had done some minor tasks for those who lingered for a good reason (desire to know of the fate of a child now orphaned, a budding serial killer's victim desiring justice, etc.), all things that properly trained priests or noukansha would have taken care of in the past before this unfavorable rise in secularism. Normally it takes months or, more normally, years for a dead human soul to fall to its grief and turn into a hollow. Though, it could be an older hollow coming from the valley or the Heuco Mundo thinking that there was an easy snack in the graveyard. However, this was Shiranui's territory, the great wolf of legend; she could defeat any… human child?

The great wolf crouched in the under growth as she watched the small frame of a child not even half way grown scream and flail on the in tantrum. Some might not see a child throwing a tantrum as a noteworthy disturbance to a great goddess (even one in a minor goddess form), but this one was one that the wolf goddess saw as _special_. This child had, in the past, not only seen her divine markings clear as day, but also could hear her speak as though she had taken a human mortal guise and spoke actual words. When he was younger (before his first Shichi-go-san), he had some trouble sorting through her divine, inhuman speech, missing subtleties the way any one learning a new language would, unimpeded by normal boundaries between mortal and divine. But by the last Flower Viewing Festival (still one of the most important festivals of this region, especially with Sakuya still being acknowledged as an official (if minor) kami as opposed to a just an old and powerful Kodama) the orange haired child had understood everything she said with the fluency expected of a child speaking their mother tongue. To see such a promising child in such despair broke the old goddess' heart.

"_Little one,_" Shiranui questioned softly to the boy as she padded out from the undergrowth. "_Little one, what has happened? Why do you cry so?"_

The boy hiccupped, stopping the mournful crying and flailing long enough to sit up and look at the white wolf with mud smeared face and red rimmed eyes. He stared incomprehensively at the wolf and sniffled for a moment, causing Shiranui to worry that his faith had shattered to the point that he could no longer see or hear her as she was, before finally responding. "She's dead," he said, hiccupping and swiping his mud smeared hand at his dripping nose. "She's dead and it's all my fault. I killed her. I-I." The boy's voice stuttered as he began to cry again. Shiranui sniffed and placed her paw on the boy's forehead decisively, orange hair falling over white fur, before he lost himself to grief again.

"_Speak clearly young one," _Shiranui commanded, her dark eyes boring deep into the child's lighter ones. "_And do not speak falsely, for I can scent the truth of a situation beyond what humans can perceive."_

The boy sniffled again, daunted but unafraid as he looked up into the kami's eyes. "It had been raining for a few days," he started and Shiranui inclined her head in acknowledgement, it had only been safe to forcefully clear the skies completely without meteorological backlash yesterday evening and so made sure that the skies were clear upon the sun's dawning. "The river was starting to run over the banks and I saw a girl overlooking the river like she was going to jump in it. And I had vowed to myself that I was going to protect everyone I could and so I couldn't let her jump in and get hurt so I ran to her to tell her to stop. She was surprised that I could see her, so I thought she might be a spirit of some sort but before I could say anything else, Mom was yelling at me. I don't remember what happened next but I was suddenly waking up and, and-" The boy stopped again, making a sound between a choke and a keen as he started to curl in on himself.

"_None of that now,"_ Shiranui scolded gently but firmly, nosing the young one's chin as she repositioned herself to curl around boy to offer comfort. The boy leaned into soft fur almost immediately. "_Deep breathes, and then continue where you were."_

The boy snuffled some more but was breathing instead of sobbing, which was an improvement. After a few minutes, and a couple of false starts, the boy continued. "Momma was on top of me. Like if she pushed me out of the way of something, but I don't remember what," he said finally. "I didn't want to think that she was dead, so I thought that if I got her home to Daddy that she would be okay because Daddy is a doctor and can fix people. So I carried her as far as I could but I couldn't make it and I couldn't leave her. No one seemed to notice us. Even Daddy when he came looking for us, almost passed us but he saw us when I called at him to help."

The boy sniffled and buried his face into the fur of Shiranui's shoulder. "He's been broken ever since," he whispered so softly, only ones with heightened hearing like Shiranui would have been able to hear it. "Everyone's been broken ever since. It's my fault. I killed her."

"_What did I say about speaking falsely?"_ the wolf reprimanded, poking the boy in the shoulder with her nose.

The boy turned and looked in her eye, face scrunched in confusion. "Not to?"

"_Then why did you?"_ Shiranui questioned gently.

The boy looked at her with wide eyes. "But I didn't!" he cried, aghast. "I wouldn't lie to you, ever!"

"_Perhaps you would have not ever meant to,"_ Shiranui agreed, "_but it does not change that you_ _did speak falsely."_ Looking at the child seriously, Shiranui continued. "_I can tell when one has taken the life of another, purposely or not, maliciously or not. And _you_ have not markers of either of these."_

"But," the boy said incomprehensively, his golden brown eyes were wide and watery, "I was supposed to protect her. My _name_ is Ichigo, 'the one who protects'! I was supposed to make sure nothing bad happened to her ever! And I failed! And now she is dead and gone forever!"

"_Perhaps you hold some responsibility, but you hold no blame," _the goddess said firmly. "_You forget the roles of parent and child. A parent is to ensure, beyond all doubts, that the child makes it to adulthood. To do so at the cost of their life is a victory, not defeat! A bitter one, perhaps, but the fact that you still live is a testament to her strength! To say otherwise is to dishonor her memory. Do you wish to dishonor her?" _ The boy, Ichigo, frantically shook his head no. "_Then accept that her death was her choice and her victory and live and defy all who would wish to do harm to you so when your body finally falls to the passage of time, your immortal soul will greet her in the after worlds and can proclaim 'Look how long it has been since we have last met! See that your sacrifice was not in vain!'_

_"And know this, young protector,"_ Shiranui continued seriously. "_From what you said of no one noticing you until you called out to your father, speaks that your mother must have once been a great miko to have casted a spell capable of hiding you from those who may wish you harm. Perhaps it had been a great many years since she had practiced her powers, many miko only practice before they marry, but in the times that our paths crossed, I could feel strong power tightly controlled in her body. Strong power I can feel echoing from you three fold. A power that many yokai and akuma would see as a tasty meal if they thought they could get away with it."_

Ichigo leaned away and looked at the wolf goddess with complete disbelief. "Me? Powerful?" he asked softly.

"_Yes,"_ Shiranui said plainly. "_Perhaps it does not seem like much now for you have not been taught to use it. A large and bright bonfire in the night that is not so much a danger because of heat than because of its unpredictability rather than a forge that can even force hardest and sturdiest of metals into whatever the master smith desires."_

The boy froze for the barest of moments before he scrambled back a short distance, bowing in a perfect kotow. "Please Great Spirit Shiranui, Divine Guardian and Spirit of Spring of Karakura town, previously the village of Kamiki, teach me how to use my powers!" the boy, Ichigo, beseeched. "I have little sisters I need to protect, and if Mom really had been using her magic to protect us, then I need to be able to do so too! Karin can see things almost as good as I can and Yuzu can notice things most can't too and…"

"_Do you know what you are asking by asking for my guidance," _Shiranui questioned regally, her posture matching her tone as the conversation became deadly serious for any spirit. "_There are many who would take advantage of such an open offer and take far more than what you would call fair."_

Shiranui could smell the hesitation in the child, but he did not relent. "What would cost of such teaching be?" he asked stoically.

The wolf kami stood and walked around the prostrate boy, inspecting his resolve. And while it appeared that the boy was trying to follow her with his eyes, his only other movement was caused by his breathing. Finishing her inspection, Shiranui returned to stand in front of her prospective student. _"If I am to become your teacher in the magical arts that are sacred to me, you will be pledging yourself to become my creature; an agent of my will in the world, as modern and secular as it has become. You will aid me in my care of all those under my protection, whether they be human, spirit, or beast. Your demeanor will be a reflection of me and as such, as my agent, you and those you call family will have my protection._

_"There may be times where I will accept your protests to action and duties, if a good argument is presented. There will be others where I will not accept any protests and if you do not fulfill those actions or duties, you will be punished in any manner I see fit. However, I swear that your family will not bear the brunt of my ire if such events were to occur. As long as you follow and heed these guidelines, I also swear that I will always provide you with as much protection, skills, and power needed for you, personally, to defend those who you hold dear, unless such situation call for my direct interference. I will also do my best to prevent my tasks from interfering with your familial duties. If at any time you decide that the cost of my teaching and protection becomes too great a burden and you demand that I cease, I will do so without removing the knowledge of what I teach you from you; but do not mistake this as still having the ability to use them, as what I will teach will require having mine and others blessings._

_ "Is this an acceptable offer?"_ Shiranui concluded, hoping that she covered everything necessary; it had been some centuries since she had actually had to construct a deal such as this, but it seemed more than fair from her prospective.

Ichigo was silent as he contemplated. "Will I be required to keep this secret from everyone?" he finally asked.

"_No,_" Shiranui answered. "_I would neither ask you to lie to your family nor others that you trust about your tutelage. But remember that in this age, being taught a magic art by an old, mostly forgotten kami would be met by skeptics and derision; so I ask that you keep our meetings discrete and keep silent on the specifics of my art for with all power, there are those who would abuse such knowledge."_

The boy was silent another moment before pressing his forehead harder to the ground in aquesstion. "I accept the terms of your offer for my tutelage, Shiranui-sama," the boy, her new vassal, Ichigo, said with appropriate regard.

"_Good,"_ the old wolf rumbled, dropping her formality, gently pushing the child out of kowtow and into a normal sitting position. "_While I will be bringing official contracts from Takamagahara for you to sign on a later date so you can get the appropriate clearances to areas I may send you later, as well as items restricted for unregistered human use due to increased likelihood of abuse or dangerous side effects to those untrained in spiritual arts (an effect of increased bureaucracy), I can still give you a general overview of what I will teach you that is specific to those of my sect now. While you know of my status as a regional protector kami and a kami of spring, that is not the only thing I am the kami of, especially with the theological collapse that I will go into at a later time. I am also a goddess of the brush, keeper of the Celestial brush techniques that were born when writing and art was more a tool of magic than of general understanding like it is today. For that reason, the first thing you are going to learn is the original means your ancestors prepared the tools needed to do any sort of brush work. First…."_

* * *

_AN: I was reminded of the formatting difference between this website and AO3. hopefully this fixed the problem. expect next chapter next week_


	2. First Moonrise

Chapter one: First Moon Rise (一月起)

Kurosaki Ichigo was not normal; a statement of fact.

He had stopped believing himself normal long before the one to buffer him from the derision of those who looked down upon the different was murdered that rainy day almost six years before. And while Kurosaki Masaki's death meant that there was no longer anyone left to try and mend the bridge, or perhaps, more accurately, be the bridge between his family's innate abnormalities and the rest of the world, Ichigo refused to let that prevent his sisters from having the opportunity to have that choice of being seen as acceptably normal. Even if it meant that he gave that choice for himself up to insure it. After all, it was easy to for the two girls to seem normal with their father's wild and outlandish behavior and Ichigo's own attention grabbing reputation.

Ichigo's reputation was as wild and varied as the number of people he encountered on a day to day basis, though there were a few common themes. The first was that Ichigo was a delinquent; with his orange colored hair (which was completely natural, no matter what anyone said), his rebellious and lackadaisical approach to his school classes when he bothered to attend, and his tendency to run into situations that led to him needing to give someone a physical (and often painful) correction. The second was that the high school student was a moody genius; Ichigo always got good grades on tests and homework regardless of his attendance, and with full-proof means of making sure he didn't cheat proving his natural abilities beyond a shadow of a doubt, combined with his national (and, if his agent was right, growing international) renowned as a professional artist making teachers and students believe that the orange haired teen's behavior was a reflection of the combination of his desire to create art and periods of being inspiration less. Thirdly, that Ichigo was god sent to the aid of the homicide and other law enforcement divisions; he was considered such to the (new) Super Intendant of the Karakura police and the town's prosecution office do to using his gifts to learn where to look for evidence and can do so without tainting evidence or procedure (after some early misstarts) while not drawing publicity away from those who were actually hired to do so.

On a relative note, the priests knew Ichigo was god sent and while some happily aided him as it meant they did not need to be the ones dealing with yokai upset by urban expansion, others thought he was trying to usurp their 'greater authority' and blamed any actions of the yokai on him. However, this sort of response only made the yokai (who looked at Ichigo's status of Celestial Envoy as Old West films saw Sheriffs as 'the Law') more resentful of the priests turning the situation into an infinite loop when Ichigo would have need to get involved to pacify the creatures.

However, despite his varied reputation, there was one thing about Ichigo that he doubted would ever change about him. The orange haired teenager could see and interact with spirits. That should have been enough of an explanation as for why his foot ended up in the first goon's face for no discernible reason. Unfortunately, his reputation for spirits didn't always precede him.

"What the…!?" one of the goons stuttered as they looked at the lanky, orange haired teen. Ichigo scowled at the dumb looks on the oblivious faces as he made himself look as bored as he could while getting into a ready stance. Honestly, people as far as Kyushu and the Ryukyu islands could recognize him from the 'Tanuki Rights War' over five years ago. Granted, a lot of those people knew or were involved in that movement….

"You come here, stomp Lil' Yama in the face, and order us about like we was dogs?!" the goon continued, Ichigo wincing at the bad grammar. "You crazy, punk? Gotta death wish? Speak!" Ichigo kept his silence but slid his eyes in the direction of the little girl's spirit, giving them clues to figure it out themselves. However, it seemed like it was going to have to be done the blunt way as the same punk got himself into a really sloppy fighting stance and charged.

"Say something, you-" the man (if he could be called that) cut off as Ichigo's other foot slammed into the grunt's face, years of martial arts allowing him to easily keep his balance despite the unorthodox stance he was using; hands in his pockets, messenger bag slung across his shoulders, his divine calligraphy case and scroll tied to his belt, and a stone and wood rosary chain looped around his right arm and shoulders.

Ichigo huffed disinterest over the second goon as the rest of the goons stammered at each other, easily holding himself in a crane stance. At least until he heard the goons call him a 'blood-thirsty berry head' and other emotive based derogatory terms; then he growled with temper and slammed his foot on the second goon. "Shut up!" Ichigo barked, leveling a glare at the morons, making them shrink in on themselves with a squeak.

"All of you chumps, look at that!" Ichigo yelled, pointing at the vase of flowers that was knocked over. "Question one! What's that!?"

Pointing at the scruffy goon with the piercings, Ichigo continued, "You, smelly looking dude! You tell me!"

The goon, now labeled Smelly, stammered for a moment before responding. "Umm… an offering for some dead kid?" Smelly answered, giving him a look as though he thought Ichigo was a moron. Ichigo repressed another growl as he moved.

"Look at the brain on Smelly!" Ichigo congratulated as he slammed a crescent kick into Smelly, causing the other two goons to jump back further before checking on Smelly.

"Question two," Ichigo continued with a deliberately calmer tone as he leveled a hard look at the last two standing. "Why is that vase lying on its side?"

"Dat's 'cuz," one of the last two goons with some sort of floral print shirt finally began, "we knocked over with our skateboards?"

"Is that so?" Ichigo asked rhetorically. Inhaling a deep breath, Ichigo gathered his reiryoku and blanketed the area with reiki, making the young girl's spirit visible to mundane eyes. Leveling a maniac grin at the goons, Ichigo delivered his finisher as he jerked his thumb back at the girl, "Then you better apologize to her, hadn't you?"

The goons screamed and began to babble apologies while quickly grabbing their friends and retreated with speeds they probably were not used to reaching without their skateboards. Ichigo decided that it would be needlessly cruel to point out the fact that they left their skateboards behind, but at least they had the decency to care for their friends' lives above their possessions. Glancing at the girl who was blinking with confusion at how the goons could suddenly see her, Ichigo sighed as he began the arduous task of gather his reiatsu to reabsorb the reiki he released into the air that was making the girl's reishi visible.

"Sorry about that," Ichigo apologized honestly, scratching the back of his head with one hand while righting the flowers and the vase with the other. "I usually have a better hold on my temper than that. It's bad manners to do that without permission."

"That's alright, I did ask you to help," the ghost said easily as Ichigo released the scroll and calligraphy set from his belt and knelt in front of the vase. "What are you doing?" the girl asked curiously.

"Fixing your flowers," Ichigo answered absently as he opened his calligraphy case that he had hand carved and lacquered from the branches of one of Sakuya-hime's sacred tree that she had happily donated to her oldest friend's promising young pupil and bound with some rare, reiki enriched stingray leather his pen-pal, Chihiro Ogino, was able to get from Ryūgū-jō on his behalf as payment for service rendered to the dragon court for the reestablishment of the Kohaku River (and now knew better than to go underground with Shiranui-sama when rocks need to be broken).

Inside his case, Ichigo kept a fair assortment of items. Brushes of various sizes made with their traditional materials of animal hair and bamboo and bound in a pale bamboo shitajiki with the linked fudeoki and sumioki used as ties, a few rolled up sheaves of paper to make ofuda and omamori with some general ones already made for emergencies in a separate roll next to the first, his delicately carved slate suzuri which had been a gift from the Tama Hills' Tanuki clans enchanted to never break, his self-made ginkō-in (as the only personal, official seal he currently might need at any time that wasn't the family's, he kept it on himself) and his self-made gagō-in (slightly larger than standard size, but reasonable as an artist signature) were in their secure loops side by side, a simple brass bunchin, a small and water tight porcelain suiteki, a small case of red seal paste, a cleaning cloth, and three black sumi sticks. Of course, to Ichigo's eyes, only one of them was pure black.

As the devoted student, follower, and Celestial Envoy of Shiranui-sama (and indirectly, the Celestial Envoy of Takamagahara as a whole, though most of the gods and spirits that Ichigo has met that knew how that worked would not tell him how that happened), brush art was where the god's power laid. This necessitated Ichigo having three sticks of sumi. The first was plain black with only as much reiki imbued in it as any master ink maker from thirty to fifty years before would have put into it for everyday use, used by Ichigo for mundane brush work such as painting or other decorative arts. The second sumi was one that Ichigo himself had made; pouring his reiatsu into the materials each step of the way, making the stick in any spiritually aware person's eyes radiate a midnight to dawn blue glow of reiki. While it did not have the same quality of older sticks, his self-made sumi gave any ofuda and omamori or any other inscribing or brush based spell work a powerful boost. Despite the powerful quality of his own ink, Ichigo grabbed the last stick of sumi in his case as he pulled the items needed for his spell; the one that glowed gold to the teen's eyes.

Ichigo knew that Shiranui-sama gave Ichigo many allowances and aids to use her techniques to the fullest that a human could. The special translucent scroll made from Takamagahara washi and sakaki and stingray leather bindings that Ichigo used as the medium for the Tenraifude-ryū was the school's equivalent of over powered training wheels. The brush he took out of a hidden compartment made of dragon ivory and Shiranui-sama's own fur was strong enough to survive any overcharging of spells and was of a greater quality than any master brush maker could hope to make as it was a gift from Shiranui-sama herself. And the sumi that glowed gold was one of Shiranui-sama's own; given to her student whose own reiatsu could only make a small flower bloom if he burned through the whole of his reiryoku to do so.

If Ichigo had just been her student learning the art, that would have been a limitation that would have been worked on but not worried over; Shiranui-sama always told him when he got frustrated over his inability to use all forms of the Tenraifude equally was that Ichigo was always more a samurai than a kannushi, lacking that twist of power an exceedingly few mortal creatures had to _create_ from pure will. However, as one of the duties of the Celestial Envoy was to preform minor miracles to show the might of their god and associated religion, Shiranui-sama gifted him the sumi she had made while teaching him how to make sumi to the Tenraifude-ryū's specifications. Ichigo hoped that by the time he ground the whole of the sumi to ink that he would no longer have need to use his god's power to make flowers bloom at a stroke of the brush.

As it was, Ichigo only needed to ground out a small amount of the sumi onto the land of his suzuri as a more watery ink was all that was needed for this simple task. Mixing the ink expertly with one hand, Ichigo braced the scroll on his left knee so he could view the vase and flowers through it. First, a stroke to mend the chips and cracks in the vase. Next, a swirl to collect and return the water spilled from the vase when it was knocked over and return it to where it was meant to be. And finish with a bloom stroke.

Holding the divine instrument between his teeth by its red and white tassel, Ichigo rolled up the scroll and returned it to its casing as a gold based rainbow twined with midnight to dawn blue reiatsu tore itself from the other side of the washi and twirled around the daisies, restoring them to how they had been just after they had been cut. Unable to stop the swell of pride in his work, Ichigo let his face fall into a small smile as he used the last of the prepared ink to inscribe a small protective ward on the vase.

"Wow!" the little girl's ghost gasped. "I didn't know you could do that!"

"Most people who know of this technique are put off by the needing to get blessings from thirteen different gods," Ichigo confided as he wiped the extra ink from the brush tip and returned the brush to its compartment. "Most don't stick around long enough to learn that because only Shiranui-sama of the thirteen gods of the different techniques was also a regional protector god and therefore had a secondary group of worshipers, she ended up absorbing all of the other gods' powers when they faded over a thousand years ago. Which suits Shiranui-sama just fine."

"Shiranui-sama?" the girl asked rhetorically as the teen finished wiping the ink residue from the suzuri and replaced the rest of his tools. "Isn't that the wolf god in the mountains?"

"Yep."

"Didn't Shiranui-sama do something for the Tanuki to the south?" she questioned. "I remember being little and seeing a large white dog creature with red markings on the T.V., but mom and dad said that it was just a white dog. Except after all the weird stuff ended, a poster with the same dog with the same markings I saw showed up on the entrance sign once the preservation park was established saying thank you."

"Ah," Ichigo hesitated with embarrassment. "She was mostly there making sure I didn't blow anything up that wasn't supposed to since that was the first major thing I was ever asked to do. I'm her mortal representative, so these sorts of things are something that I'm supposed to be doing. And on that note, with so much of Shiranui-sama's power around that vase, it should keep any malevolent spirit away from you tonight as long as you stick close. I'll come back tomorrow with news of how your parents are doing and a slip that should get you safely to the afterlife. Does that sound good to you?"

The ghost beamed at her savior. "Yes, thank you so much!" she said gratefully.

"You take care," Ichigo said with a wave as he began back towards his home. "And pass on if you feel like you can without me. There is a whole other life beyond this one waiting for you."

Thankfully, the rest of the walk home was largely uneventful; Ichigo only subtly acknowledging the various yokai that were either invisible to the mundane eye or were indiscernible from their mundane counterparts who called out to him in greeting with means most humans could not hear or understand. Thankfully, the yokai of this area did not expect more than this unless they were requesting something, which Ichigo was not in the mood for. Despite the protection he gave the ghost, Ichigo still had a bad feeling about this night. If only he could figure out what was bothering him.

Sighing with slight relief as he reached the front of the clinic that served as his family's home, Ichigo entered. "Tadaima," the teen said in a manner that showed he was only saying so out of rout. And ducked under the hook kick his father aimed at him from behind the door.

"You're late!" his father, Kurosaki Isshin proclaimed, two seconds before Ichigo stood with his right arm catching the leg that had not been aimed at his head while his left arm caught the other against his neck and gently tossed the older man further into the house before closing the door with his hip. Well, relatively gently.

"Sorry," Ichigo said honestly, slipping off his outdoor shoes and dropping his bag and calligraphy tools, gently, by the stairs. "I forcibly made it so some jerks that were disturbing the spirit of a little girl, who was waiting to pass on till after she knew how her parents were coping with her death, see her to scare them off. I wanted to make sure she had some protection in case I attracted something unsavory towards her before I could find out how they were doing."

"Outside the wards?" Karin stated more than asked.

"Yeah," Ichigo sighed as he dropped himself in the empty chair next to Karin, causing her raise an eyebrow at him as he usually sat across from her, though he could not bring himself to do so at the moment.

The wards were a set of wooden ofuda carved from blessed sakaki wood and then inked in with his reiki infused ink with inserts on the back of the ofuda to fit two omamori designed to both ward away those with ill-intent (including malevolent spirits) and dampen the feel of reiryoku and reiatsu of those inside the wards so Ichigo and his family did not attract yūrie, or hollows as Uryū-kun (a classmate of his that has a family history of spirits that Ichigo was making quick friends with since they met at the beginning of the school year) says they are more often called, and then have them attack everyone that lived just outside the wards. He also had them in place around the schools and the local hospital, so he did not have to worry about his family where ever they were. The first ones were put up by Shiranui-sama after Ichigo became her student, but last year the wolf kami declared that Ichigo's ward work was powerful enough to rely on his own. After over a year with no trouble from them, Ichigo was both relieved and proud at the achievement as it meant he was keeping his promise to both learn how and use what he learned to protect his family.

The down side of the wards was that if the ghost of someone who did not have strong ties to the area in either life or death entered, they ended up getting shocked which resulted in the ghost having a bad reaction. Usually a sudden burst of chain corrosion, but there was that one time where there was an instant hollowfication. In any event, it was something Ichigo and his family tried to prevent from happening by not inviting trouble and taking care of all ghost problems before coming home. This was why the eldest Kurosaki was not making as big of a deal about his only son arriving home later than usual like he would under any other circumstance. In fact, Isshin seemed to be giving his son an unusually serious look as he took the empty seat to Ichigo's left.

"Making a ghost visible seems a little extreme," Isshin stated pointedly.

"I know, I agree," Ichigo sighed as he passed the serving bowl to his father as Yuzu finally sat down, her back to the kitchen. "But there has been an increase in activity of the ghosts in Karakura that seems completely disproportional to recent deaths in the area. On top of that, ever since this morning I've been on edge and I can't figure out why."

"Speaking of an increased activity of ghosts," Yuzu began tentatively, pointing over Ichigo's shoulder, "you've got another one."

Ichigo twitched and turned to look. A cubical drone, _great_. "Do you even have a reason for staying here?" Ichigo hissed.

The ghost's expression did not change as it floated back a foot. "I'm scared," it finally said. Ichigo groaned, cradling his head in his hands. Karin sniggered.

"Hey," Isshin whined. "Stop rubbing in the fact that you can see ghosts and I can't."

"At least you can tell when you're near a yokai now," Yuzu said comfortingly. That was one of the few things that was a genuine side effect. Ichigo had thought that when Yuzu and Karin's ability to perceive ghosts and yokai began to sharpen relatively quickly after he started learning from Shiranui-sama that the wolf god was actively affecting his siblings. This led to him confronting the kami about it as the responsible brother in him was uncertain about the balance of burdening his sisters with the responsibility accompanied with that level of power against the ability to see all the things they might need to run from. The goddess did not take offence at the accusation, though she did firmly correct his assertion as that it was a natural human response to being in constant exposer to powerful spirit energy; almost as much as a factor as genetic family history. This was why families who lived near sacred groves or other holy sites often gained spiritual abilities regardless of prior family back ground.

"While knowing which ones will understand me if I yell at them for getting into the garbage is useful," Isshin agreed. "I still feel left out that all my children can do something I can't. Being able to see ghosts is so cool."

"Trust me, it is not that great," Ichigo grumble as picked up is soup bowl and took a long swallow. Turning back to the ghost, he leveled a hard glare. "You, stay against the wall until we finish dinner and then I'll make you a talisman to get you safely to after world, got it?" The ghost nodded frantically. "Good."

Turning back to his dinner, Ichigo and the Kurosaki family ate as they discussed current news at school; Ichigo's calligraphy club (which had an absurd number of girls in it _and_ Ichigo somehow ended up as Secretary despite not trying for any position on top of it) were arguing about entering one of those new performance calligraphy competitions, Karin's soccer team was getting ready for an upcoming tournament, and Yuzu's acceptance to begin training to become a Miko at the large shrine in Naruki city during the summer. Ichigo would have preferred her being trained at the Higurashi shrine despite the long distance as he trusted the priestess there far greater than any other in the Western Tokyo area, but knew that if Yuzu completed her training there, it would lead to her becoming at least as strong as he was spiritually and gain all the responsibilities that came with the power of being a Higurashi miko. There really only needed to be one Higurashi Kagome level miko in the world at a time.

Isshin was starting a story about one of the intern nurses the local hospital shuffles through as a part of their training, jumping around with wild expressions and movements for emphasis, when Ichigo heard someone on the stairs and stilled. "I don't understand," a strange female's voice muttered to herself. "I swore I felt it come this way." Ichigo tensed and looked over.

First thing he noticed was that the spirit was short; and it was a spirit, as only a spirit could have come in from upstairs. Second was dark hair and dark clothing. Third, and most important, was the katana at her side. Relaxing slightly, though not lowering his guard completely despite the Shinigami's confused look, Ichigo jerked his finger at the ghost floating against the wall. "Loose something, Shinigami-san?" Ichigo drawled. Karin and Yuzu stared at him before turning to look in the direction he was glaring at, though only Karin's squinting eyes were actually focusing on her. Isshin, on the other hand, clammed up like flipping a switch and returned to his seat. Ichigo wondered if he knew more details about Shinigami in reality than he did, being a close friend with Uryū-kun's father despite Uryū and Ichigo having only met that year.

The Shinigami in question started at being noticed and addressed. With a faint flush to her cheeks, the Shinigami drew her Zanpakutō and quickly stamped the seal on the pommel of her blade against the ghost's forehead.

"No," the cubical drone whined, as Ichigo rolled his eyes and finished the last bit of his dinner, internally frowning at how serious his father was looking despite his attempt at behaving in a manner most would find normal. "I don't want to go to hell."

"Do not worry," the Shinigami said in what was probably supposed to be a soothing tone. "Your soul is bound for the Soul Society, a far more peaceful place than Hell."

"Is there really something there, Ichi-nī?" Yuzu asked, looking at were the ghost had been.

"Something is definitely there," Karin said. "Though all I see is a blur."

"That's odd-"

"Does the Shinigami have a reason for being here?" Isshin asked with forced cheer, his eyes resolutely ahead of him in approximation of where the Shinigami should be despite his inability to actually see, or even sense, spirits to any significant degree. "Or was it just here for your newest spirit pal?"

Before Ichigo could say anything in response, the Shinigami broke into the conversation. "You can see me?" the Shinigami gaped with surprise. "Really see me?"

"Yeah, I can see you fine," Ichigo answered. "The local Kami of Protection, Shiranui-sama, has been active this past decade so a lot of us in the area can at least detect spirits. Are you new to this area?"

"Yes," the Shinigami answered though she still seemed bewildered. "I just started this past week. How could you tell?"

"Just a week?" Ichigo repeated for the benefit of his family who obviously could not follow very well, if at all. "That explains it. Most of you guys end up running into one of the local yokai and get told the local peculiarities with in the month but if it hasn't even been a full week that you've been assigned here, then it would explain why you don't know."

"Know what?" the Shinigami asked, gathering her wits.

"That I'm the student of Shiranui-sama and Celestial Envoy of Takamagahara when called on," Ichigo said with a smirk, leaning back in his chair. "As such, areas that I frequent such as here, my school, and a couple other areas in town are warded against malevolent spirits and suppress our signatures to lessen the chance of attracting them. And just because you are a Shinigami and probably have a century more experience-"

"You said that your wards have a reiatsu sensing suppression function?" the Shinigami interrupted urgently.

Ichigo leveled a look at the wide eyed Shinigami. "Yes, among other things," Ichigo repeated calmly. "Just because I am concerned with the living and you with the dead does not mean I want to have a spiritual equivalent of a neon sign hanging above my-"

"When were they last updated?" the Shinigami interrupted again.

Ichigo gritted his teeth, but tried to refrain from antagonizing the one with the sword. "This past spring just before the semester started at the dawn of the beginning of the flower season, when Shiranui-sama's power peaks," he answered, losing grasp on his temper. "Are you going tell me what the hell you're-"

"I was following a Hollow until it got near here and its signature vanished," the Shinigami answered, though she seemed distracted trying to sense through the wards. "It was too different to how they normally disappear for me to not investigate. Are you sure they are still fully functional?"

Ichigo was going to scoff and tell the Shinigami that of course he was sure, but there was something that made himself stop. He had been having a bad feeling since he woke up that persisted throughout the day. A ghost that didn't look like it was from the area seemed to have followed him home without problem. And a Shinigami that seemed relatively young but honestly eager to do the sort of duty that they were founded on, if he had to guess, saying that a Hollow vanished from her senses in the middle of his neighborhood. Inhaling deeply, Ichigo reached out with his reiatsu to look through the weaves of the wards of his making….

…And felt the suffocating feel of hunger and madness that could be nothing else than a Hollow just beyond….

Snapping his eyes back open, Ichigo began to move even though he could feel his blood leave his face as the evil feeling seemed to flare and focus with malevolent intent. "Dad, everyone, get down," Ichigo cried as he forced Karin back and grabbed the edge of the table. Isshin (with speed Ichigo did not know his father had in spite of his ability to land his "attacks" on his son, who had experience dodging yokai, when he actually was trying) dove from his chair, clearing the edge of the table before pivoting and snatching Yuzu from her own chair and spun to grab Karin who was stationary behind Ichigo in surprise; all in the precious few seconds before the wall behind where he was sitting burst through with the roar of the Hollow.

With a shout, Ichigo tilted the table and kicked it into the buck-tooth face of the Hollow, jumping clear of the grabbing hand, heedless of the shattering tableware. Reacting quickly now that her target was in front of her, the Shinigami deftly leapt forward and swung her sword at the Hollow's face. It was in vain, though, as the Hollow had brought up its other arm when it reeled backwards from being struck by the table and blocked the strike, knocking the Shinigami back into the Kurosaki home.

Shoving panic away, Ichigo unwound the long chain of stone and wood beads on ōgumo silk rope from around him and began to twirl the chain like a kusari-fundo with the weight of the jade magatama at the end allowing the teen the ability to aim. The beads were made more for catching and calming overactive yokai than for dealing with angry or otherwise dark spirits, but they did have some ability to purify so they should be harmful to the Hollow. Knowing that he did not have the tools to land a critical hit, Ichigo was determined to at least give the Shinigami the shot she needed to land the killing blow. "I have pre-made ofuda in my calligraphy case," he said to his family behind him as poured his reiatsu into the beads and silk rope, making them give a blue glow.

"Right!" Yuzu said quickly. Ichigo could hear her lunge back towards his supplies but he stopped paying attention when the Hollow turned to follow her movement behind him and he threw the chain, the magatama striking through the eye hole causing the Hollow to back up with a pained cry, both hands coming up to cover its face. Reeling in his beads as he moved, Ichigo ducked through the hole in the wall and began to pour reiatsu through the beads again. With the clear street now at his back and not his mostly defenseless family, Ichigo threw the bead chain again, this time hitting the Hollow's flank. The young Celestial Envoy could not help but give a vicious grin at sizzling sound that came from the contact.

"Ye lord! Mask of blood and flesh, all creation, flutter of wings, ye who bears the name of Man!" the Shinigami chanted from within the Kurosaki home. "Inferno and pandemonium, the sea barrier surges, march on to the south! Hado #31: Shakkahō!" A red fire condensed and shot from her hand and struck the Hollow in the face, causing it stagger further from the Kurosaki home. The Shinigami used this to join Ichigo on the street, leveling her blade at the monster, making sure to keep clear of the spinning beads.

"What are its power levels like?" the Shinigami asked. "I still cannot sense it through your wards."

Ichigo focused on the enemy's energy signature. "I cannot sense the extent of its power," Ichigo answered honestly as the smoke from the spell faded and revealed the cracked mask. "However, its reiatsu is fluctuating similarly to some yokai with a high healing factor." This became evident as its mask mended itself before their eyes.

"A Menos? Here?" the Shinigami asked bleakly. "Twelfth is supposed to tell us about these things."

"Good thing you're not alone then," Ichigo said, ducking left away from the Hollow's (Menos?) attack as the Shinigami ducked right, whipping the beads out and connected with its side again. The Hollow roared as its recoil brought it into the Shinigami's blade as she spun and dodged to stand next to Ichigo again.

"Hassha!" Karin shouted from above. A second later a flash slammed into the recovering Hollow's face. Scowling, Ichigo looked up to see that his younger sister had climbed up to the roof and had a stack of ofuda at her feet. Before he could come up with a way to express his annoyance (he could feel terror later), Yuzu called to him from the hole in the wall.

"Ichigo, I have them!" Yuzu shouted, shifting her gaze between the smoking creature and her brother. Gritting his teeth, Ichigo lashed out with the beads again before leaping back towards Yuzu. Running back the rest of the way, the orange haired youth snatched the ofuda as the Shinigami made an abortive slash at the hollow as Karin fired another purifying ofuda blast.

"Ichigo, will it run from these?" Isshin asked quickly as he ran towards his eldest, the wooden ofuda usually in the kamidana that served more as prayer receptors rather than offensive or defensive use for the house shrine (Shiranui-sama) and the clinic's (Amaterasu-Ō-Mi-Kami), but….

"If Yuzu channels her reiatsu through them and prays, they should glow with the kami's power," Ichigo answered. "We might have to get new ones afterwards, though." The road crunched as the Hollow missed the nimble Shinigami, bringing Ichigo's attention back to the fight. Tucking the paper ofuda into his pocket, Ichigo charged the beads again. "Karin! Get back down here and help Yuzu! We don't need a broken roof on top of everything!"

"Okay!"

The Hollow lunged at the Shinigami and Ichigo leapt forward, wrapping beads around its arm, the magatama locking it in place as the teen worked to bodily restrain it as his sister got clear of the roof. The Hollow roared in fury and pain, swiped at the beads and flinched back when the glowing beads burned its hand. Snarling even more, the Hollow lunged at Ichigo. Ichigo tossed himself through the Hollow's open legs, hoping to force the Hollow to smash face first into the ground where it would be in easy stabbing range of the Shinigami. Unfortunately, it did not work as well as he had hoped, as the Hollow landed a scratch on his right arm that was supporting the beads, making his reiatsu waiver and his chain lose power and go limp.

'No, it was worse than that,' Ichigo thought as he quickly rolled further away from the Hollow as it attempted to stomp him, tucking his right arm to his chest, using his left hand to pick the correct ofuda by reiatsu sense and pulled it out swiftly, slapping it over his injury and activated it. 'It has venom that hinders reiatsu flow entirely!'

Coiling his beads as the ofuda purged the venom from his body; Ichigo righted himself as he tried to think through this mess. It healed faster than they could deal damage. If the Shinigami had the power to counter it without causing more harm, she looked desperate and determined enough with her spell casting for Ichigo to believe that she would have done so by now. Ichigo had the power to defeat it, but not the time. The wards were tampered with in a way that made it impossible for the Shinigami to sense the monster but not repel it. Would he have even had checked the wards if the Shinigami had not come looking? Was this deliberate?

Forcing as much reiatsu into the beads as he could, Ichigo charged at the Hollow; springing off the monster's back with a flip and slamming them down on the Hollow's mask with a loud crack, causing the Hollow to shriek and stumble back as the mask cracked and smoked. But the damage was already done. The Shinigami stumbled up against a wall, one hand on her bleeding shoulder, the other barely keeping a grip on her blade. "Damn it," the Shinigami hissed as she clenched her eye shut.

"Shinigami-san," Ichigo asked worriedly as twin glows of gold emerged from within the hole in his house, causing the Hollow stumble away from his family in pain as its mask continued to heal and the comforting feel of his kami's power filled the air, "are you alright?"

"While my life is not in any immediate danger," the Shinigami said, her voice painted with pain, "I fear that I am too badly injured to continue fighting."

Watching as the monster stood and turned back towards the Shinigami and Celestial Envoy, fully healed, Ichigo bleakly addressed the Shinigami, "Can you think of anything that would give us a chance of beating it?"

"Only one," the Shinigami answered, adjusting the grip on her sword so that it was leveled in front of Ichigo. "You must become a Shinigami."

Startled, the teen looked back at the Shinigami. "What?"

"I pierce you through the heart with my Zanpakutō," the Shinigami explained. "By doing so, I have the ability to force some of my reiatsu directly into your soul, giving you the ability to take on a Shinigami's power and abilities. The chance of success is low with failure tearing apart your soul entirely, and even if we succeed you may still end up dead. But you have shown that you have control over reiatsu, and probably have a lot of it still left even now, so perhaps it means that you have a better chance of survival."

"Or perhaps and even lower one?" Ichigo asked rhetorically, gripping his beads tightly as he saw Karin, his idiot, _idiot,_ younger sister edge out of the house, glowing ofuda in hand making the Hollow back away from her. But now it was obviously deciding that getting burned by the holy power was an acceptable loss to get such a tasty treat. "Right then, let's get started, Shinigami-san."

"Ichigo?" the teen could hear Yuzu call to him, though he ignored her to keep his determination firm.

"My name is Kuchiki Rukia, not Shinigami," the Shinigami, Rukia, corrected as they leveled her Zanpakutō over his heart.

"Kurosaki Ichigo," he answered in kind. "May we both be able to meet again after this."

"Ichigo?!"

They pushed the blade through his chest, and Ichigo had to clench his eyes at the second of pain before ice slid into his soul; numbing him with the chill of death even as it bridged and pulled power out from the depths of his soul and out into the air. With all the determination that he could muster, Ichigo compressed the energy further to himself, reinforcing power wrought clothing he could now feel draped over him. Realizing that he now held the swords hilt rather than the blade, Ichigo compressed his exposed energy even further, remembering the discussion between the Western Lord and his siblings two summers before about the correlation of energy compression and piercing damage of yokai and other spirit creatures, holding firm the image of a katana until the energy seemed to settle.

Snapping his eyes open, Ichigo zeroed in on the Hollow, ignoring the presence of his family beyond recognizing as needing to avoid hitting them the sword that seems to between the length of a standard katana and a ōdaichi (which was honestly more suited for his height than the standard size). Moving faster than he has ever had under his own power, Ichigo quickly wove through the obstacles his family made of themselves, ignoring his desire to curl around the comforting warmth of the activated ofuda, and slashed at the Hollow's legs. The Hollow crashed heavily onto the ground with a cry. It cried out again as Ichigo quickly slashed through the arm that attempted to block his leap over the fallen form. Steadying his feet on the ground, Ichigo pivoted and slashed a horizontal line through the entirety of the Hollow's head, defeating it once and for all.

Shaking with the desire to fall over, Ichigo pulled at the remains of his reiatsu, the image of a powerful warding circle and his neighborhood crossed over each other in his mind. Forcing the energy to his sword point, the new Shinigami slammed the sword into the ground, overwriting the old wards and saturating the air with shaped purifying energy. With his senses expanded as far as he could go, Ichigo could vaguely feel the souls of all the creatures with the barest slivers of true evil in their hearts suddenly run in the opposite direction. Ichigo might have laughed, but his sword had evaporated with the last of his energy and he landed on the ground; only cold left in his heart.

Shivering weakly, Ichigo heard the sounds of his family's desperate cries, but could not make out any words in his state. He tried to move, but was quickly scooped into his father's arms and firmly held there. Rather than feel smothered like he would have normally, the teen tried to burrow deeper into his father's warm body; desperately trying to will that familiar warmth into him even as the Kurosaki patriarch's warm hand practically throbbed as it rubbed small circles into his back where he would have been physically injured if the damage of the spiritual weapon did not coil itself in his soul.

"Cold," Ichigo finally managed to gasp before falling into darkness.

* * *

Sorry that this is still not Beta'ed. Thank you to everyone who reviewed! let me know if the formatting problem is still there.

translations:

Yokai- nature and/or elemental spirits. sometimes believed to be different from kami only by either having worshipers or by occupation. Not usually out right evil, as some western religions such as Christianity would label them, but are known for conflicts with humans that result in a lot of damage and casualties.  
Kyushu and Ryukyu islands- the southern large island and the smaller island chain to the south of Japan  
Reiryoku- the potential energy of a person  
Reiki- spirit energy with out intent that can collect upon a spirits reishi and make them visible in the living world. often accumulates naturally at shrines and other sacred sites. also the term for energy with out intent in an object. Used by Quincys to make weapons and do combat.  
Reiatsu- energy released into the air that carries the intent or will of the one who releases it. the driving energy behind spell casting and other similar techniques  
Reishi- spirit partials, what spirits and everything in Soul Society and Hueco Mundo. Used by Quincys to make weapons and do combat.  
Ryuuguu-jou- the palace of the dragons at the bottom of the ocean. In this story, it is made of sea coral and sea glass and other objects that make it to the bottom of the ocean, has five wings which contains the throne room and a season each to accommodate all the different kinds of dragons, and its ruler has comparable authority over the world as the Japanese Emperor (who is considered the primary ambassador between dragon and human kind)  
shitajiki- a mat of either felt or bamboo to prevent ink from bleeding through paper. usually used in calligraphy  
fudeoki- calligraphy brush holder  
sumioki- ink stick holder  
ofuda- a talisman, predominately used by Shinto shrines as means to bring a connection of a kami into one's house, though they can take a more combative use when prepared as such  
omamori- a charm, usually used to ward or balance energy around a person, though it can be used for other, defensive, purposes (see the protection charm that Isshin gives to Ichigo before Soul Society arc)  
suzuri- the ink stone, where traditional ink is ground out and mixed. used in calligraphy and other traditional brush arts in the east  
Tanuki- racoon-dogs native to east Asia, the yokai versions are capable of illusions and transformation  
ginkō-in- a personal, official seal, used at a bank instead of a signature  
gagō-in- a personal, unofficial seal, often used as an artist signature, often hold nicknames or pen names  
bunchin- a type of paper weight used in calligraphy  
suiteki- a water jar used in calligraphy  
sumi- ink sticks, traditionally made of charcoal and either resin or animal glue. used in calligraphy  
Takamagahara- the heavenly plain where the palace of the gods of Japan resides. considered eponymous of each other.  
washi- Japanese traditionally blended paper, mostly used in Japanese decorative crafts that involve paper like calligraphy and origami  
Tenraifude-ryuu- Celestial Brush techniques. made up term but i think it is more accurate to the translation than 筆調べ or the "investigators brush", even if that is how it is most often used.  
kannushi- Shinto priest, i believe they are more specifically mage or healer types than other terms  
kusari-fundo- a chain weapon with weights on two ends. best known for use by police during the Meiji era  
ōgumo- means "the great weavers" usually a spider spirit, though may also refer to other thread making insect spirits  
magatama- a type of bead that looks like a yin-yang symbol that is considered sacred in Japan, believed to have originated as a symbol of boar tusks which was the original reason as to why they were always paired  
Hassha- firing, shot, discharge (I know most people use "kai", but I can't find a translation as to why so if someone can show me where this comes from, I'm sticking to what translates acceptably)  
kamidana- house shrine for Shinto, I think a different one is used for Buddhist use


	3. Dawn of a New Moon

Sorry this is late, I was working ahead and forgot that I was supposed to update this weekend .

* * *

Chapter 2: Dawn of a New Moon (暁新月)

Kuchiki Rukia shook quietly against the wall as the odd family capable of seeing spirits like her rushed to their fallen member. Their cries of distress made guilt flash through her though she could not help but let an emotion closer to terror dominate her mind. After all, despite everything, even the family's worry, the teenager was alive; if in shock and exhausted. And what a terrifying thing it was to know that something with that much power was completely and utterly _exhausted_.

Rukia knew it was a risk, this whole borrowing power thing. It was best known to Rukia by the illegality of it rather than the process, but with her shoulder obviously cracked and the Hollow _right there_, the unseated officer could not afford to worry about the legality of it especially with the horrifying thought of the hollow gaining the powers of this spiritually powerful family. But she could not understand what happened with her power. Rather than half of her power, the boy ended up sucking in all of it; Sode no Shirayuki gone from her mind with a yelp of surprise. At least Rukia could still feel her Zanpakutō connected to her, but the sword and spirit was as unreachable as the rest of her power.

This did not even cover the whole of the oddity of what just happened. The boy's power after absorbing Rukia's Shinigami power leapt so high she could feel it through the warding. It felt small, relatively, but she knew that was a lie because she could not feel a _Menos_ class Hollow through the wards. This probably was symbolized in the boy's shihakushō; in addition to what one would normally expect on a Shinigami, the boy had a white with red and black swirls kote with red ties with matching sune-ate with white and red wrappings on his thighs and arms just past the shoulders. The sword would not have surprised Rukia if it was his own; longer than the average katana in the gray area between a daito and a ōdaichi, but if he had taken Sode no Shirayuki in her entirety, he should have been using her. The sword he was using had some elements of her Zanpakutō in its appearance, but was ultimately _not._

The fact that he remained in his body might not be anything of note, after all Rukia had never done this sort of thing before. And his skill in wielding the blade could easily be explained with training in the living world. But his speed could have easily have been a shunpo, and that power he released at the end that made even her, a Shinigami, feel like she got a sun burn from the sheer _purity_ of it was what teetered her at the edge of awe and complete terror. No human should be able to do that. No human _could_.

Rukia flinched at the glare she received from the dark haired girl the boy, Ichigo (not Kaien, no matter how he acted, it couldn't be Kaien, it was too soon for him to have been reincarnated by the time this child was born), had referred to as Karin as the father moved the shivering boy back through the broken wall. _It wasn't her fault!_ She was doing her duty; she told him the risks,_ why did everyone who cared for her die?_

"Wow," an unknown man said from behind her with exaggerated amazement. A quick turn showed him to be a blond with a green striped bucket hat with and a green based traditional style of clothing. He swung a cane that did not feel like a cane in one hand. "You never actually _feel _anything from over here. I wonder what happened." The man sighed and turned back the way he came almost negligently. "Doesn't matter right now, I suppose. Their Calvary will be here in moments and the moment they hear that a Shinigami was involved, well, I wouldn't want to be a Shinigami in an easy to reach place. Perhaps we could talk more at my shop? I have a number of items available for the stranded Shinigami to peruse through."

Rukia opened her mouth to protest, but knew that in her state surrounded by people who could see her and could do damage to a hollow (even if it was not lasting damage) was probably unsafe to be around until tempers cooled. Giving one last look at the damaged house, Rukia followed the odd man down the street.

'Please live,' Rukia prayed silently to herself. 'I'm tired of not being strong enough to not kill the people who have gained my respect.'

Isshin felt a numbness in his heart that he had not felt since the early days in the aftermath of Masaki's death as he watched his only son shiver weakly with an unnatural cold under the extra covers on his bed, curled around the wooden ofuda that were still giving a golden glow of power visible to _his _eyes without any other aid. Ryūken, who had arrived with his son not terribly long after Isshin got Ichigo bundled in bed and figured out that the ofuda calmed the unconscious teen, said that the ofuda were giving off energy that Ichigo was absorbing safely in a way that spoke of his latent Quincy abilities working in full. Or perhaps it was Ichigo's kami acting remotely to keep its promise with the teen. Despite all of the odd things that occurred in his life, Isshin wasn't sure he could handle this anymore.

The truly odd things started after his wife's death and subsequent gaining protection from a creature he had only believed in prior because Masaki had gripped at him when they noticed their toddling first born petting what looked like a normal, if large, white dog, and hissed, '_I have no idea what that is, but it's not normal and very powerful.'_ Even after they researched the local lore on it and deemed it benign unless angered (and then only aggressive towards adults), Isshin did not trust the creature that he had only the barest of understanding of after having to live in the Living world for years. Not even after his son decided to throw his lot in with it.

_ Isshin dashed through the forests surrounding the graveyard he just laid his wife's soulless (eaten) remains, panic lodged in his throat as he searched for his eldest child. He could not lose them both. He wouldn't be able to survive; his wife might have been the center of his world after he lost his powers and married her, but Ichigo was _theirs,_ he couldn't lose them both without breaking to the point he would probably just hollowfy on the spot. _

_ As it was, he had to foist his daughters onto Urahara (who had not dared to skip out on this occasion even if Ryūken and Isshin had to stuff him into a proper, modern suit) as Ryūken was on the other side of the service with his parents who bore holes into the remains of the Kurosaki family with blame in their eyes. After all, was it not Isshin who gave Masaki that foolish idea of giving up the arts of the Quincy entirely? Who convinced Ryūken of the same? And then had the gall to keep the children away and not have them taught their ancestry and powers? Regardless of not having any Shinigami powers anymore, this was obviously a ploy of the Gotei 13 to finish off the rest of the Quincy._

_ There was not a Hollow in the area, it would have been sensed by the Quincy or Urahara quickly, but that did not calm the former Captain of the tenth squad. Ichigo has had the look of horrified shock on his face since he was told that his mother was dead and never coming back that worried Isshin. Isshin had been too numb to act on it at the time, having to prepare a pointless funeral, and felt that it was a conversation that would be better had after the service. But Ichigo vanished in the middle of it, and no one noticed until Isshin turned to try and pull him to the side after it was over._

_ Isshin knew he had to be the one to find him even if Urahara and the others could use high speed techniques (that was the only advantage the others had as the only thing that could be easily sensed in these woods were actively malicious things like Hollows, everything else was faded like in static), the one who Ichigo needed to be found by was his father. His eldest child needed to know that his father was still there for them even if this tragedy has only proven that promising to always be there was an empty one. Needed to know that he was still loved and wanted and apart of this family that would not survive without him._

_ Isshin had checked the steep sides first, in case Ichigo was contemplating the value of "accidently" falling off them (one could only truly go over the side on accident if they used shunpo as the cliffs had defined edges between the tree line and the drop for anyone to see in time at normal speeds), and did not find anything. He then checked through the woods to the top of the mountain where the great Konohana tree, the natural wonder of a sakura tree that always had some blooms on it even in the winter, stood alone with a view of Mt. Fuji off in the far distance. _

_There were no defined paths up this way; construction crews always seemed to suffer accidents trying to clear a way to the top and the old stone path was mostly overgrown and broken. It was not like you could not view it from a distance, its age giving it a size that allowed its branches to casually hang above the tree line that was hundreds of feet away and down the mountain. The tree itself laid in what looks like what might have been a crevice or depression when was first planted thousands of years before, but between the weather and its large roots (that were believed to run deep into the mountain) the sides were worn down leaving only flowers, small bushes, annual grasses, and moss to grow at the peak beside it (or on it). The sight was beautiful and awe inspiring. Most people hiked to the neighboring mountain to a lookout station to view the mighty tree without the hard hike, but the Kurosaki family had hiked up to the tree every spring every year after Ichigo's kindergarten teachers taken his class up at the end of the school year and they fell in love with the view._

_But even that long hike seemed in vain as the only living creatures on the mountain was the tree (which always felt more than just a tree, even to Isshin) and the small animals and insects that called the tree home. Isshin had circled the tree three times, calling fruitlessly for his son, climbing over and using the exposed roots as raised platforms to get a better view of the rest of the mountain with no result. Finally dropping himself on the top of ancient stone torī that roots had grown into it (practically fusing the two together) after hours of searching, the former Shinigami began to weep._

"_Please," Isshin begged the empty air, unable to believe in much of anything that could be benevolent but desperate enough to want something that would listen anyways. "I just want my son. I've already lost Masaki. I can't lose him too._

"_I know asking for the dead to return to life is foolish and pointless," he continued. "But Ichigo is alive! He has to be alive! I love him; maybe I haven't said it enough times this week after Masaki's death, but its true! I just want him back! I won't be sad anymore! I have him, and Karin, and Yuzu; the best gifts I could ever ask for, why would I say I need anything more? Oh, kami! Please! Please just let me find him! Please!"_

_He continued to weep incoherently for few minutes before a sudden wind nearly knocked him off the torī. Gripping onto the wood and stone tightly, Isshin let shock dry his eyes before being nearly knocked off a second time, some of the flower petals from the tree spinning in front of him. It took a third time of being struck by the wind for the former Shinigami to realize that the wind was not natural as the petals remained as they were in a small vortex of wind in front of him despite the strong force trying to remove him from the torī. Spooked, Isshin spoke aloud at a guess._

"_I don't-" he stuttered. "Are you wind, or another force? I can't see-"_

_Another wind gust blew, but rather than an answer, it felt more like an expression of exasperation. Seconds later, Isshin ducked his head instinctively as a small flock of sparrows grazed his hair with their wings. The birds flew in a circle at the entrance of the overgrown pathway but it took the unnatural wind kicking him off the torī (and it really did feel like someone's shoe connected with his back) for him to realize what they wanted him to do._

"_Follow, you want me to follow?" Isshin asked aloud as it seemed to be working. The birds flew down the path a ways, still visible to the former Shinigami. Staggering into a run, Isshin began to follow the birds. "Thank you, thank you!"_

_Following the birds was not as hard as Isshin would have expected, but then normal birds would not have stopped to allow him to keep up. They followed the main path for a while before veering off onto a sub path that was largely unnoticeable from the main path do to overgrowth, not picking up again until a number of stumbles and crashes through undergrowth put him back on broken stones. The path led east, towards the undeveloped forests and mountains that supposedly held the original settlement for the area before a combination of drought, storm, and the illnesses those natural disasters caused led to the villagers to move to the area that would become Karakura and the surrounding settlements. Tradition said the land was taken by the kami and yokai to make up for something (the detail of what were lost in time) and, while Isshin normally laughed that it was just a description of the beauty of the woods that grew back without people cutting down trees to make farms or cities, the events of the day was making him doubt what he held as truth._

_But he has read the spirit tales, has heard all the reasons why a kami or yokai one has probably insulted would help. Isshin was a former Shinigami, a shinketsu, born to the Soul Society; he never honored spirits of the Living world. Heck, the closest they got to worshipping someone was the Reiō, and from what the literature said about him was that he was decidedly _not_ a god. Despite the lore involving the duties of the noble houses, unless the sōtaichō or the Kuchiki clan had information the Shiba clan did not, the gods or kami or however else they are called had nothing to do with Seireitei at all. Masaki, as a born Quincy, was familiar with the myths and things that appeared normal that suddenly hit critical mass of reiatsu and developed its own personality (usually they get identified as tsukumogami), but had not believed or honored kami or yokai, either. The one who seemed to know the most about them was Ichigo, and that was because he could talk to them._

_It was a talent that Masaki and Isshin had humored, thinking that the dog-that-wasn't was an isolated incident (like that Komamura guy back before he had left Seireitei). A plus of an animal gaining Shinigami powers as opposed to undergoing hollowfication and, not being normal, remained in the living world in something like a gigai rather than in Seireitei. It was improbable, not impossible. Could probably be easily cleared up, if anyone got up the nerve to ask the sō-taichō about the wolf creature. With Ichigo being the child of a shinketsu Shinigami who lost his powers and has yet to go through any other part of the reincarnation cycle and echt living Quincy (who may or may not also be a new soul), odd instances of unusual powers were to be expected. It was no longer funny when, in the past year, Ichigo revealed a rather heinous child abuse case because he overheard a nekomata plotting vendetta against the parents in the school yard for the child that was suffering had fed it when it had sprained its paw and could not hunt despite the fact it led to the child to get in trouble by doing so. _

_It became downright serious when Yoruichi investigated, in cat form, and found herself almost completely outclassed in seconds when the cat creature ensnared the shape shifter with, what the former captain was told, a low level binding spell that hit like a level ninety bakudō because, as a Shinigami who could shape shift into a cat, the resonance made the woman laughably easy for the nekomata to handle as the Shihōin princess had no training in dealing with yokai. If her Zanpakutō had not called out to Benihime and had Kisuke come running, Yoruichi could have been killed, or worse, ensnared in a compulsion so strong that it would have made Aizen's little illusions look like carnival tricks. _

_So all of them opened up books on mythology and began to read; Isshin, Masaki, Ryūken, Urahara, everyone. What they discovered was less than reassuring. The sheer number of creatures that would eat a child for no other reason than it thought the youthfulness of it was tasty or empowering was terrifying. For most people this would not a problem, if you could not see them, they would not look at you in most cases. Ichigo could see them like he could see ghosts and people. Masaki began reiterating 'do not give your name out to strangers that did not wear police uniforms' and added 'even if it looks like an animal'. Ryūken had theorized that these creatures might have been what the Quincy clan had initially been targeting in the beginning and continued in depth research on the subject, leaving behind hollow hunting all together._

_But this tragedy happened too soon; they were still only just learning everything they might need to know. He did not even know if whatever spirit that was 'helping' meant good or ill. Could not know for he was still spiritually numb from the wound to his spirit he took years ago; at least Masaki and Ryūken were having discernible luck in using their detection abilities in finding the odder creatures of the world (Ryūken discovered that a crow that lived outside his hospital liked to read that way). Aside from the great tree and the sparrows, what else resided in these woods? Was this help a sign that Ichigo was well but lost? Or was it just a way to inform Isshin of his son's death? Or was this just a means to lure Isshin to his own death? And so panic fueled his feet, keeping Isshin moving even when it seemed like the very woods were trying to reject him from their realm._

_It took a few moments to realize that the sparrows had stopped all together, and a few moments more to see why. Just beyond where he stood was a small clearing that held what looked to be a small shrine. It was atypical as far as shrines go; looking to be made of stone and copper first and foremost though the amount of plant growth on it made it difficult to tell, with stone pillars holding up a stone and copper roof that, aesthetically, resembled the Ise shrines the most. But the stone did not fully enclose the small stone alter with it's only having walls that were only half as high as the roof. All other details were lost to Isshin when he noticed what lay in the entrance._

_The white creature that looked like a dog, though tradition called it the wolf-kami, Shiranui, rested easily on the moss covered stone; one dark eye open staring at the former Shinigami with what looked like a vague interest, matching ear perked. Curled up against the wolf in a muddied formal suit was a sun hair child whose breathing patterns matched those of one asleep. Isshin nearly choked with relief as he collapsed on the ground. It was only after regained control of his emotions did realize the trap it might be. Wolves were protectors of the mountains, as what lore he and Masaki had read stated when they had gone back through the stories. Beyond that, they were known to take in children abandoned in the woods. They usually said that they were infants, but if Ichigo truly had blamed himself for Masaki's death, then maybe he thought that everyone else did too, and…._

"_Please, Shiranui-makami," Isshin begged, not bothering to pretend that he had any strength he did not have. "Please, let me take him home. I'm sorry that I did not express myself well enough since my wife's death, but I want my son, Ichigo, to come home with me, now. I won't ever ask for anything else again if I can take him home. I love him and won't be able survive without him. Please let me take him back, please."_

_Isshin heard a huffing sound from the wolf and looked up, unsure if he was being insulted or not. Shiranui-makami had taken to nudging Ichigo with its nose with a purpose that was hard to determine until it huffed again and stuck its nose down the collar of the boy's suit jacket. Twitching, Ichigo stirred and absently tried to squirm away from the wolf's nose until he needed to catch himself when the wolf stood completely. Rubbing sleep from his eyes, Isshin's first born noticed his father._

"_Dad?" the nine year old asked, his voice heavy with sleep. "What's wrong? Did something happen?" He began to crawl out from the shrine but was quickly snatched into Isshin's arms. "Dad!"_

"_Don't do that," Isshin reprimanded, trying not to choke on tears. "Don't run off like that again. I thought I lost you, too."_

_Ichigo tried to wriggle out of his arms, but Isshin held on tighter as he backed away from the wolf. Inhaling as though he was about to verbally protest, Ichigo paused with a tilt of a head that usually meant he was listening to someone, though Isshin could hear no sounds. "I fell asleep?" Ichigo asked in a way that most would have thought rhetorical. No longer trying to get away, Ichigo pulled himself up higher so his arms could wrap around Isshin's neck and could look in his father's face with a guilt laden look. "I'm sorry; I didn't mean to worry you more. I just wanted to get away from the service where it felt like everyone was blaming me for Mom's death."_

"_What?" Isshin asked with aghast. "I don't blame you! Masaki would never forgive-"_

"_Not you dad," Ichigo said quickly. "But there were some older people there and it felt like they thought that Mom's death was all my fault, and I felt that it was all my fault, but didn't mean to, and so I ran away. Shiranui-sama says that it wasn't very smart because if I had ended up anywhere else I could have gotten hurt."_

"_Don't think that," Isshin said bleakly, how could he let his son think that for a whole week? "Even if she died, I'm proud of her. She did what every mother would want to in her situation; die protecting her child. I would never think that. You should not think that."_

"_I know," Ichigo said with a small voice. "Shiranui-sama said the same thing. And I'm going to learn everything I can to make sure that me and Karin and Yuzu don't see her face to face for a long time so she knows she won." _

_Isshin sighed as he hugged his son closer, absently noting that soon his son would be too big for this- wait. "What do mean by 'learn everything'?"_

"_Like Mom," Ichigo answered easily. "Shiranui-sama doesn't know what sect Mom belonged too, but she can tell that she was a powerful miko, even if she hadn't practiced in a while. And I have a lot of power I can use like she could, so Shiranui-sama is going to teach me how she does spells so I can protect everyone now that Mom is dead so she doesn't have to worry about us and be happy in the afterlife."_

"_Is she now?" Isshin asked warily, eying the wolf that rested easily under genkan of her shrine. "Is it something that's going to be expensive? Being taught by a kami must be worth a lot."_

"_She says that human money isn't worth anything to her by itself so you don't have to worry about that," Ichigo answered. "I'm going to be paying her back with Praise and other things that I might pick up that she likes."_

"_Praise?"_

"_Yeah," Ichigo continued. "Praise, or Kō, is what kami and yokai use. I'll be collecting it by doing tasks for Shiranui-sama so she gets recognition, which makes people believe in her more, which makes her more powerful, and goes on in a loop like that. There is a conversion rate of Kō to Yin that got standardize, so I can still earn a salary, and-"_

"_You don't need to work," Isshin protested. "I'm able to support us all."_

"_I know," Ichigo said like he thought his father was being deliberately dense. "But I agreed that I would work for Shiranui-sama anyways and she said that it is something that is probably going to come up when I get older so she might as well add it to the contract now."_

"What contract?_" Isshin asked, his tone level as he kept himself from hyperventilating. He knew how many stories that involved a contract ended badly for the human, and damn it, _this was his son!

"_The one that says Shiranui-sama is going to teach me how to use her Tenraifude-ryū in exchange for me becoming her vassal and-"_

"_NO!" Isshin snapped. Leveling a glare worthy of any captain of the Gotei 13 at the wolf, who was now sitting up regally, and continued, "He is _my_ son. He lives under _my_ roof. I am head of my family and _you cannot have him!_"_

"_Dad!" Ichigo exclaimed, his surprise evident on his face. "What are you doing?"_

"I'm not losing you too!"

"_But you're not losing me!"_

_The wolf barked, neither ruffled nor fearful of the former Shinigami. If anything, it appeared vaguely amused. Ichigo flushed in embarrassment at whatever the wolf had said and looked like he wanted to duck away to hide his face but instead he said, "Shiranui-sama says that she understands why you are worried, and that she had already reprimanded me for having opened negotiations blindly. She also says that we haven't signed a fully binding contract yet as it has been awhile since she has had to make a contract for teaching and wanted to get a second opinion before making it fully official. Though we have come to a general agreement and swore by it already._

"_And, Dad," Ichigo continued plaintively, "I made it so you guys come first, no matter what. So you aren't loosing me. I just want to make sure Mom didn't die in vain."_

_Clamping down on his desire to break down into hysterics, Isshin addressed the wolf. "The final contract has to be seen by me before he signs," he said firmly. "Ichigo is too young to make these agreements on his own and if there is something I don't like, this whole thing is off, understand?"_

_The wolf barked again and nodded in a very human manner. "She agrees," Ichigo repeated before burying his face into his father's neck. Isshin decided to not let whispered 'I love you, too, dad' as the sparrows returned to guide them out break him. No matter the tears that fell from his eyes._

The wolf had done as she promised, arriving at the Kurosaki household that following Sunday with a lawyer in tow. The lawyer, a conservatively dressed Kitsune woman who introduced herself as Kimura Kiko, had everything a worrying father would want on hand; general law history of Takamagahara and related realms, how it translated into human society of today, the efforts of yokai integrating their customs and lifestyles into the growing human one, which all related into how they agreed to treat children in the Human world.

That was the defining thing; in the Human World. Because there were strong efforts by the yokai that remained in the Human World to integrate into human society; humans, like Ichigo, who could perceive a yokai as they really were was something of a relief and treasured even if they were on their own and vulnerable. Likely the reason why the boy had been able to convince the nekomata to make its vendetta one that would stick to human laws as opposed to just vengeance. Opposite that, if he crossed into a domain of the spirits, something that his innate powers made very likely, he would be highly targeted as either a potential servant or a tasty snack. Part of what becoming Shiranui's vassal entailed was that he was already in Shiranui's service if he ventured into these areas. So if anyone tried to snack on him or anyone else under his protection (like his family), they were liable to receive retribution from Shiranui herself.

And that protection, hell, the rest of the benefits that Ichigo gave his family by being the wolf kami's vassal was good; a deal that if Isshin was being offered for himself, he would take in a heartbeat for the sole reason that it wasn't _too_ good. Absolute protection for himself and his family, until he is able to defend himself and others from most things on his own, and _only_ until that point. Guaranteed back up in the event that something happened and Ichigo was not ready or able to defend himself or those he was sworn to; logical as attacking a loyal servant of a kami was like an attack on the kami themselves. Training that, if the kitsune's flicking tail and smirking lips was a good gauge, would likely make any strong akuma or vasto lorde think twice about messing with when complete. All in exchange for promoting the presence of a once great kami now only remembered in local folk tales and preforming miracles in her name that would result in a return of the kami's power and extending a protection in her domain that only a human could provide.

But this offer was not being offered to Isshin, it was being offered to his nine year old son. He should not have even been thinking of offering his son up to save their lives (and they were in danger, Aizen was only going to continue to lurk around and interfere with his family, and maybe next time in a more direct way). But Ichigo was determined, and serious, and oh so different than the child he had been just a few weeks before his mother's death, so Isshin asked to have time to think it over, keeping a hold of a copy to deliberate over for the week and invited the kami and the Kitsune back to his house the next week at the same time if it pleased them, or if there was some other time or place to meet….

The two non-humans agreed easily, the kami not having any duties that had time constraints and the Kitsune was on maternity leave (which boggled Isshin until he realized that she really was a lawyer at a human law firm) and therefore had more freedom than she would in a few more weeks. The delay made Ichigo edgy until Kiko explained that it was completely normal thing as they were not in any rush, and Shiranui telling him that Sakuya-hime (who a snickering Ichigo had explained was the kami Isshin had inadvertently called on when he was out looking for the boy) was enjoying scaring off anything vaguely malicious from the neighborhood while the contract was being worked on, so he should not worry about inconveniencing her. So the two creatures left peaceably and Isshin called a meeting at Urahara's shop.

The three exiles, the former Shinigami, and the Quincy had looked through the contract and came to same conclusion no matter what Isshin's conscious said; that they should accept it. All the stories about Shiranui spoke of how kind yet powerful she was, aiding both those who worshipped her and those who were in danger in front of her who never even heard of her with equal measure. Combined they spoke of being capable of many different acts of powers from making flowers grow to banishing demons with holy fire. She would run from town to town, even into territories that would not be friendly towards her to look for a medicine, or a special weapon, or a child's lost pet for very little in return. If there was a kami you wanted to sell a child to (even if that was not what was actually occurring, no matter what Isshin's guilt whispered to him), it was Shiranui for the sole reason than she already considered any child born in the areas of her protection her children and rarely asked more of them than any reasonable parent would.

It did not make Isshin feel better. Not even Urahara's assertion that they were gaining an unexpected and direly needed ally could make Isshin feel better. Not even Ryūken's steady, if still grieving, logic pointed out that his family would at least have as much protection that they had while Masaki was still alive could make Isshin feel better. Not even Tessai's confidence that whatever the kami taught Ichigo would be different enough that Aizen would not see it coming should he attack the boy could make Isshin feel better. Not even Yoruichi's wary but determined promise to follow and observe the lessons the kami would teach the child could make Isshin feel better. Not even watching the spark of joy-in-life in his son that Isshin thought was completely smothered after his wife's death grow again in Ichigo's gradually increasing smiles and laughs as he continued to grow stronger, and happier, safe and healthy, could make Isshin feel better. Not even years and a dead Hollow later did it make Isshin feel better.

A cup of warm green tea was shoved unceremoniously into his hands, startling Isshin out of his dark musings to look up into his best friend's, almost brother, face. "Drink and calm yourself," Ryūken said firmly. "Everyone seems to agree that he'll recover when the sun rises and Shiranui-kami's power peaks." Everyone being the ragtag collection of Yokai, both in human form and not, that came running (or flying) almost as quickly, if not faster, than Ryūken had that were aiding in cleaning up the down stairs as Uryū and a Tanuki were sleeping in shifts in the twin's room for everyone's peace of mind.

"Why such confidence?" Isshin muttered. "Do they even know what is wrong?"

"The analogy I was given went like this," Ryūken began. "Every being's soul makes its own ink. Each day they can either use the ink, or leave it for later. If they use the ink then it will stay used until the conditions for the ink to refill itself are met. For humans, it is eating and sleeping. For Shiranui-kami, whose first power involved the sunrise, it is the rising of the sun. If Ichigo was a normal human, he would have died within moments of releasing that much power and become a Plus. However, by being a Celestial Envoy, a piece of Shiranui-kami's power resides in his soul as well, supplementing his strength like a portion of a river of ink diverting itself into another river."

"If Shiranui's power is currently sustaining him, why is he so cold?" Isshin demanded. "Shiranui's power is warm, especially this time of year."

"Because he used up most of it," Ryūken continued calmly. "He, most likely unconsciously from what the others said, mixed his power with what Shiranui-kami allots him of her power and made a shield of energy around the area that blazes as though she had done so herself. It is only feels that way on the first layer, of course, but it appears to have scared off everything in the city from petty criminals to a small group of akuma that had, apparently, recently snuck in and became convinced that they were discovered. Very powerful and very draining to perform."

"To be frank, Isshin-san, if you hadn't done something as stupid as try and heal him the second you reached him, he still might have died. Untested family energy absorbing abilities aside, his living, even if unconscious, body is burning more energy than he is producing at the moment and if you hadn't shoved what reiatsu you had into him to make the difference until you gave him access to a more potent power, his body would have completely shut down. If it wasn't for the Shinigami's power lingering, which is opposite enough Shiranui-no-kimi's power to cause conflict even when working towards the same goal, Ichigo-dono would probably just appear half dead rather than half frozen," Kiko finished, entering the room with silent foot falls, red furred tail swishing into existence as she walked.

"Police are gone?" Ryūken asked needlessly.

"And very happy that the Kurosaki household is neither wanting to track down the 'hit and run' or in need of animal control," Kiko answered dryly, sipping from her own tea. "Apparently they have had a sudden increase in traffic violations this evening that seem to escalate into higher rating crimes once taken in and would rather be on the streets in case there are any more rather than just add to the number of bodies sitting vigil. Even if it is the night shift that generally likes Ichigo-dono."

"Is the Shinigami's power truly having that much effect?" Isshin wondered.

"It has to do with resonances, a thing that humans generally are not affected by directly," Kiko repeated. "As entities of nature, yokai and kami have times when nature favors us, and times when nature does not. Humans, who are creatures of adaptability and change, can adjust themselves to whatever is needed relatively quickly and survive. Animals, such as foxes and sparrows, can make sure our children can survive a change but often cannot change fast enough to save ourselves. An example of this; if a Kitsune yokai who is used to tropical weather (fire or light) gets trapped in a tundra, any child born there would be born with a more favorable element to survive the tundra (ice or dark) while the Kitsune born in the tropics would likely be unable to survive a second winter do to stress.

"Because Ichigo-dono is a Celestial Envoy in addition to being human, he stands on the threshold of being a kami like spirit and mortal human," the Kitsune continued as she gave the unconscious teen a fond look born out of years of watching out for and helping the Kurosaki family. Isshin probably gave the same look to the ankle biters she called kits. "Generally speaking, it means he receives all the benefits of being in resonance without the usual draw backs in the opposing situations. But Ichigo-dono is currently not living off his own power, but off of Shiranui-no-kimi's power which is, above all things, life, sunlight, spring, and warmth. The Shinigami's power lies in death, winter, and frost. If it were the frost of an icy night, we would risk adding our own power to the volatile mix churning inside as all the powers with in him would be in complete conflict and cancel out entirely, but enough of their power is not fighting each other that it safer to strengthen his body until dawn when his soul's power through Shiranui-no-kimi will recover sufficiently enough for him to actually rest and recover his own."

"Does that mean I made things worse?" Isshin asked, stricken that he may have actually hurt his son rather than aided when he instinctively formed a healing kido with all of the reiatsu he could grasp.

"You, Isshin-san, who is almost as familiar to him as his own heartbeat? No, you did not," Kiko sighed, patting the man on the head like a girl would a fond dog. "The stupidity was more in regards to your own health. I do not know what happened to have damaged you soul to such an extent, and I do not know how you human spirits give yourselves mortal guises when you lose the ones you are supposed to be born to (if you are even yet born to them), but you have only just healed enough to begin regaining your powers. Putting stress directly onto your soul as you did this night could have done a more permanent damage if you had pressed yourself enough."

"You know?" Ryūken said with surprise. As great a sensor he was, the reiraku the Quincy formed when he had checked less than a month ago when Isshin thought he had heard Engetsu in a dream was only just beginning to have red thread back through, not enough to be sensed over the feel of a normal human, yet.

"It is a subtle thing that would not have been noticed if you had not shaped your reiatsu for healing and left lingering traces on your son when we came to check," Kiko explained. "Your soul has more the feel of new growth, the dawning of a new soul, and the spark of a new life rather than death. But it only has energy markers that a soul from the domain most noted for the dead of humans as opposed to this one of the living would have when shaped. So the only thing to explain it is a new born soul born to the Soul Society that has yet to properly enter the flow of human reincarnation and once had enough power to learn how to use it. So a Shinigami that has yet to experience death, but weakened enough to take up life in the realm of the living with little trouble or notice. Not terribly hard to discern with my considerable experience."

"Would you mind keeping silent for the time being?" Isshin asked wearily, leaning against the closet door. "I've always meant to explain, but only when my powers came back. And for a long time it looked like they wouldn't."

"I will not bring it up, but if Ichigo-dono asks me, I will not lie," Kiko compromised. Isshin knew he would not get better than this so he nodded his agreement. "Though at least I now know why our little Celestial Envoy is already more than half way to being a full kami; he was a hanshin from the very beginning."

Isshin and Ryūken started as one. "What?"

The Kitsune blinked at the two men in bemusement. "You didn't know?" she asked in something disturbingly like awe. That was rarely a good sign with the trickster yokai, it usually meant you were about to be the butt of a very spectacular joke and yet to find out.

"There are three types of kami," Kiko began slowly; it was a running joke among the Yokai Ichigo associated with the most that Isshin ended up attracting all of the spiritually (more specifically yokai and kami) deprived to himself. Because of this, they automatically assume that anyone Isshin was friends with that hadn't been introduced by Ichigo, was completely ignorant on such matters. Unfortunately, as far as the Yokai were concerned, they have not been wrong yet. "The first are born solely from instances of nature which gain reverence from their beauty or strength, which include Sakuya-hime and others of the old courts. The second is that they gain much power in life and is held in high regard by followers and opponents alike; this is how most yokai become kami, like Inari-Ōkami-sama of the Kitsune. The third is that they gain power after they die; whether through ancestor worship like with the Imperial family or through whatever you human souls do in your Soul Society to become Shinigami.

"Generally speaking," Kiko continued, reveling in the shell shocked looks on the two humans, "the third manner is the weakest manner to become a kami as, if you are dead, there are limited opportunities to gain worshipers, which add to a kami's base strength. But starting off as the child of third classification? Yes that explains much about Ichigo-dono's nature and the fact that he is already showing signs of having his own resonances."

"Shinigami have resonances like yokai?" Isshin questioned, unable to believe that he failed to realize after twenty years in the living world that Shinigami counted among kami of the living despite their title having the word in it.

Now the Kitsune looked confused. "You mean you Shinigami do not wield different elements or have specific strengths in different circumstances?" Kiko questioned back. Suddenly reminded about Yamamoto sōtaichō and his former third seat, Hitsugaya, Isshin flinched at the likely result of a fight between them.

"No your right," Isshin amended. "I just never thought that way about us because Engetsu is not tightly bound to the elements like others that I know. I wonder if that means if Kaien had ever gained bankai if he'd been able to beat the sōtaichō with resonance advantage despite lacking the experience?"

"Not to interrupt your musings," Ryūken interjected. "But does Ichigo's status of being a hanshin by birth affect your diagnosis of his health now?"

"That really depends on how human Ichigo-dono's late mother was," Kiko stated.

Cupping an orb of his reiatsu, the Quincy held it out for the Kitsune to inspect. "She was as human as I am," Ryūken answered. "We were near kin."

Kiko sniffed at the energy and poked at it. "Looks as purely human as you can get in this country," the Kitsune diagnosed. "Maybe something _really_ far back, but not enough to gage by."

"So no change in diagnosis?" Isshin reiterated.

"No change," Kiko agreed. She called back to them as she left the room. "The soup that Mata-san was putting on is probably finished by now. I'll bring some back up for us to force into Ichigo-dono. He is going to need the calories."

It must have only been moments between the Kitsune leaving the room and returning with a bowl of soup and a number of implements to force liquid down an unconscious patient's throat, but without conversation to sustain him, Isshin could feel time slip from him again as he watched his son helplessly shiver. At some point after the teen had a whole bowl of soup poured into him and Kiko took all the lingering dishes away, Isshin must have drifted off while standing because the former Shinigami was suddenly jerking awake as Kiko checked on Ichigo again; the orange and pink light of dawn peaking over the horizon. Ichigo was no longer shivering.

"Is he-"

"I believe that he is improving," Kiko interrupted. "If a lower-mid-grade fever is an improvement."

"Shiranui-kami has a higher than average temperature," Ryūken stated tiredly, shifting in the chair he must have taken up after Isshin fell asleep. "It is possible that is only seems like such to us because Ichigo has yet to regain his own power. Did not his base temperature rise after become Shiranui-kami's student?"

"It did by a degree or two," Isshin replied uneasily, moving to place his hand on his son's now fever warm forehead. "I still don't think it being up this high is normal if he isn't fighting off an infection."

"Perhaps just the next stage of shaking off that shinigami's power," Ryūken said with a tired sigh. Isshin guiltily wondered if he got any sleep though the former Shinigami did not feel all that rested either.

"That does seem likely," Kiko agreed, seemingly little worse for wear after a night of, presumably, being more active than either of the two doctors. "In any event, Ichigo-dono is actually resting now. As long as we keep an eye on his fever, he should be recovering soon. Am I to assume that you are not going to be all that useful until then, Isshin-san?"

"Probably not," Isshin agreed, idly running his fingers through dampening orange hair as the teen slept with a small frown.

"A good thing I already left a memo for my firm that one of my clients was going to be occupying my time for the rest of the day," Kiko said decidedly. "Do you think that my medical license having expired almost forty years ago will cause a lot of problems in the clinic today?"

"Don't mention it and fall back on being a nurse if pressed," Ryūken suggested. "Do you mind if I use your bed for a couple hours of decent sleep, Isshin-kun?"

"No, go ahead," Isshin replied, grabbing the chair Ryūken just vacated. "I'll be here if you need me. Will one of you wake me up before the girls leave for school?"

"Of course," Kiko said with a small smile. "I'll go familiarize myself with your clinic until it is time for everyone to wake up. Good sleeping boys."

The two other adults left Isshin alone with his sleeping son after this. Morosely, Isshin dropped his head onto the edge of Ichigo's bed and held one of his son's hands. "Get better, Ichigo," Isshin said emptily. "I don't want to not be able to see you anymore." He was in a restless sleep in moments.

* * *

shihakushō- work uniform. in the case of shinigami it is their black outfit

kote- a type of hand-arm guard in Japanese armor. (think a combination of hollow ichigo [pre-Ulquiorra] colors and Shiranui colors)

sune-ate- a type of foot-shin guard, i think it takes the place of grieves. (think a combination of hollow ichigo [pre-Ulquiorra] pattern and Shiranui pattern)

daito-"long sword"

ōdaichi- what i would call a "stupidly long sword", like sephiroth's sword in ffvii

torī- the red arch in Shinto

shinketsu- 'pure blood' shinigami, in this case a new born soul. in this story, if shinigami has a child, it is considered to be a shinketsu even if tite kubo has yet to confirm or deny whether or not a shinigami can have a child who is someone's reincarnation.

tsukumogami- a item that becomes self animated and a yokai after 100 years

nekomata- fork tail cat or two tailed cat yokai that is closer to the evil ed of the spectrum than the gray-to-good. can shapeshift, control dead souls and corpses, make fire, other magic things to torment people.

makami- a term of address for wolves who die and become kami or yokai afterwards. Isshin uses this term because at the time he thought that Shiranui was a wolf equivalent of a shinigami not a nature kami.

genkan- and entry way

Kō- the japanese word for the praise earned in okami. more on the exchange system in later chapters

no-kimi- an address that is considered archaic form of 'my lady' that was used in feudal japan to refer to lords or ladies of the court. while normally used nowadays the same as "she is such a princess" or "my beloved _", Shiranui's status as a minor goddess form of Amaterasu means that she is automatically a 'lady of the court' and so is a valid honorific to denote respect rather than an insult.

dono- 'my lord/master', in this instance it is more similar to a 'Sir Knight' than 'master of the manor, etc.'

hanshin- demigod, bit can also mean rebellious spirit. according to 'Azumanga Daioh', if you see a toy one at a fair, it is like finding a shrunken head in terms of weird/creepy level

***********Spoilers to manga bellow**********

I would like to make it clear that I started writing this before all of Isshin's flashback ark was finished so there are divergences but it shouldn't be to bad to work around. as for the latest chapter, I don't care if what Tite Kubo used as an explanation makes sense or not, I already set up a system for why there was a Hollow in Ichigo's soul so Zangetsu-oussan can stay Zangetsu-oussan. a hint, it involves mythology.

Also, sorry if Isshin is a bit OoC. I'm trying to make it so that everyone else sees him as only a goofy parent, but Isshin was a Shinigami captain; he has to at least be serious to himself and his allies if his eldest child just did something approaching heroic sacrifice (or maybe it is heroic RSoD?). Besides, while I doubt he will ever be a purposeful social butterfly, in this story Ichigo had a reliable authority figure after his mother's death to keep him from becoming completely introverted and punkish which leads into him trying not to take offense at everything weird by human standards. Though he still scowls when he is thinking or feels insulted, so don't worry.


	4. Waxing Crescent 1

Chapter 3: Waxing crescent: 1 (二日月)

Ichigo began to regain consciousness slowly. The first thing he was aware of was a ball of cold in his chest even though the rest of him was on the line between comfortably warm and a little hot. The second thing the teenager became aware of was a lethargy that pulled at him; somewhere between tired and the ache of illness though the fatigue did not feel as though it was in his muscles and blood. The third was that one of his hands was not under the warm blankets with him. So he tried to tug his hand to his chest and let out a small, pathetic whine that he would latter deny when the limb refused to move.

"Ichigo?" came a startled mumbled grunt that made the teen cringe when he recognized it the second before he was pulled into a hug. "ICHIGO! MY DARLING FIRST SON HAS AWAKENED!"

Shivering at being suddenly exposed to cooler air, Ichigo groaned as he mentally frowned, not being able to do so in reality. Years of being told to 'pay attention' to what people may try and bustle under loud exclamations and showy movements made the teen note his father's increase of heart rate, the difference between this hug and his father's usual overzealous expressions of love, and the fact that there was underlining sound of relief in his father's voice rather than mischief like there usually was when he launched himself into his bedroom every morning to wake the teenager up. Remembering his achy tiredness, Ichigo's slow brain settled on 'recovering from serious illness' and tried to remember when he started feeling symptoms.

"How long have I been sick?" Ichigo mumbled, trying to struggle out of his father's death grip. "Let go, I'm cold."

"You have a fever," Isshin said into orange hair, his refusing to let go of his grip. Instead, he secured it by half pulling the teen into his lap.

Unable to bring himself to fight his father's unspoken need to reassure himself, Ichigo sighed and struggled to pull the blanket over his shoulders. "It doesn't mean that I'm adjusted to the air temperature," Ichigo argued weakly. "Are Karin and Yuzu still here?"

"Nope," the middle aged man declared. "Daddy was good and made sure his little girls made it to school on time despite how worried for their idiot and delinquent brother they were. My darling Masaki would never forgive me for letting our precious daughters fall to such delinquency."

"Who were you yelling at, then?"

"That would be me, Ichigo-dono," came a voice he normally did not expect to hear in the morning.

"Kimura-san," Ichigo wondered. "What are you doing here?"

"The more important question is, what do you remember of last night?" the Kitsune woman asked.

Ichigo frowned, leaning back against his headboard after his father finally released him from 'Death Grip of Doom' and tried to think back to the last thing he remembered clearly. There was the thugs he curb-stomped for disturbing the little girl. Then dinner with the cubical drone ghost. After that… Shinigami… wards down… Hollow… cold….

Ichigo jerked, his eyes widening as the memories crashed into the forefront of his mind. "Oh, kami!" Ichigo exclaimed. "Is everyone alright?"

"The only one significantly damaged from the encounter was you," Kimura-san answered, her tone somewhat dryly as she put her hands in the pockets of her lab coat. "And you only suffered minor injuries from the encounter itself."

"What about Rukia?" Ichigo asked, noticing for the first time the bandage on his arm from where the Hollow had scratched him.

"Who?" Kimura-san asked plainly. Ichigo looked up, checking her expression to make sure she was serious.

"The Shinigami," Ichigo said. Looking between his parent and his lawyer, the teen continued when he noticed the continued looks of confusion. "It looked like her shoulder was broken and she was bleeding rather strongly. Admittedly, I don't know how that really translates from mater being to spirit being in terms of severity. I only know that it is one part subconsciously remembering how a living body is supposed to respond and one part viewer's mind attempting to put into perspective the nature of the injury, but it looked rather bad."

"She was not here when I arrived," Kimura-san said.

"It was probably a good thing she left, though," Isshin confessed. "Between Karin and Uryū-kun after he first got here and we explained what happened, they might have done something rash before we could stop them."

"Why would they?" Ichigo asked in confusion. "We'd probably be dead if it wasn't for her."

"Emotions and reason do not often go together," Kimura answered. "All they were seeing was the fact that you were injured with an injury they could not see. Though I wish she had swung back sometime later so I could talk to her about the continued effects of her reiatsu on you."

"Continued effects?" Ichigo echoed. "But I used all of her lingering reiatsu when I made the ward."

"Something I forbid you to ever do again," Isshin said firmly. "The only reason you aren't dead is because the Shinigami powers did not completely cancel out your Shiranui-sama's."

"Whatever the reason," Kimura-san explained, "the Shinigami's power seems to be both lingering and attempting to grow with in you. However, that is less apparent now that Shiranui-no-kimi's power has been replenished within you. And I concur; however effective your current ward is in making darker entities run the for other districts, using your power in such an ineffective manner will only lead to your death and the death of those you are trying to protect."

"Was I really that close to dying?" Ichigo asked.

"If it was just one thing, it would have most likely have been less dire," Kimura-san answered. "However, not only were you physically going into shock, you were spiritually going into shock from the conflict in resonances between Shiranui-no-kimi's and the Shinigami's power. Stacked on top of this was your using all of your neutral human power which increased the effects of this resonance dissonance occurring within you while exasperating the shock your body was going through."

"Oh," Ichigo finally said, unable to look at his father in his guilt. "I did not realize that I had over exerted myself that much."

"Or thought it did not actually apply to you?" Kimura-san asked rhetorically. The Kitsune crossed the room to pat the Celestial Envoy on the head. "Don't worry, you're a teenager. This sort of thing was bound to happen at some point."

"It already happened before this," Isshin whined dramatically. "He has made such a delinquent of himself."

"Hey, that Nogitsune was _not my fault_," Ichigo complained.

"He did get that particular delinquent before he could cause much trouble," Kimura-san agreed.

Isshin huffed with exaggerated disdain. "Fine, encourage him. See if I care. Some preserver of the law you are."

"Speaking of that," Ichigo began, giving the Kitsune a suspicious look, "what are you doing here, Kimura-san?"

"Aside from deterring one of my elder children from causing mischief on the street while he pretends to be your wall?" Kimura-san dodged. "I do have some medical talent despite being some years out of date on human medical advances. I also have an insight into spirit wounds that your father probably does not. I thought that would be appreciated, all things considered."

"He's gotten pretty good at diagnosing what manner of creature leaves that sort of mark even if my sisters and I are really the only ones who can give proper treatment," Ichigo defended, feeling the slight aimed at his father. He knew that his father walked on eggshells when it came to spirits that were not human based, but Ichigo also knew the two normally got along well together as she had spent the better part of two centuries apart of the human society and could he not figure out what why her tone had gotten so sharp at the end.

"Of course he has," Kimura-san agreed. "Tell me, how you are feeling? Any pain?"

"Not pain," Ichigo answered as the Kitsune began to poke at him, small flares of exploratory yōki seeping into his shoulders along his pressure points. "But I am feeling the sort of lethargic ache that I normally associate with the flu. But it does not feel like an ache in my bones or muscles like when I am home with the flu." Not that he has really suffered through the full brunt of a flu virus since becoming Shiranui-sama's Celestial Envoy.

"That is most likely the dissonance between Shiranui-no-kimi's power and the Shinigami's," the Kitsune stated absently as she checked his reactions to his injured arm (slight twinges of pain). "While I have not suffered through a human flu virus, those symptoms do sound like what a Kitsune will suffer through if caught in a dissonance. My apologies for doubting your tutelage, Ichigo-dono, but has Shiranui-no-kimi covered how to view one's soul internally?"

"She has," Ichigo answered, not feeling the least bit insulted as the Kitsune backed away. "It is part of how to keep the brush techniques organized when a number of them are contrary to each other."

"Good," Kimura-san sighed with relief. "If I may say so, Ichigo-dono, but attempting to venture into your soul is not something I would dare to try under normal circumstances. Doing so when you are still recovering from trauma is more than slightly fur raising in terms of apprehension level."

"You think the problem can be solved with, whatever that is?" Isshin asked, the part of him that was a medical profession asked with curiosity.

"Best chance, at least," the Kitsune confirmed. "I'll get some food started for the two of you. Unless you wanted to get some proper sleep, Isshin-san?"

"Proper sleep?" Isshin repeated with mock insult. "I feel completely energized knowing that my first born is well once more! Why would I need to get any more sleep?"

"Of course, Isshin-san," Kimura-san said agreeably as she exited Ichigo's room. Alone, the two Kurosaki men stayed in an awkward silence.

"Well," Isshin finally said. "I'll just go take a shower. While Kiko-san is not hard on the eyes, my patients probably want someone who has had their doctorate renewed with in the last couple decades."

"Dad?" Isshin stopped in the doorway and look back at his eldest, questions in his eyes. Ichigo shuffled in place with embarrassment. "Thanks for being here when I woke up."

Isshin smiled one of his rare true smiles. "Of course," he said in what Ichigo thought of as his Dad voice. It was gone the next second though. "Not that I was here for any other reason than to make sure how much you worried your sisters, you delinquent."

"'Course not," Ichigo sighed contemptuously, puffing himself up and giving his father beady look. His father, being the pinnacle of maturity in the Kurosaki family that he was, blew a raspberry before cackling himself down the hallway with heavy steps.

Shaking his head in incredulity, Ichigo crossed his legs and began to meditate.

Clinching his fingers around his pencil, Ishida Uryū made sure that his reiatsu did not spike as the girl, _Shinigami_, was introduced as a late transfer. Her power was weakened, but she seemed uninjured otherwise. This was his target. This was the one who tried to take his acquaintance, his comrade, his _first friend _away from him. Who might have yet succeeded despite the adults' confidence when he and the twins were awaken that morning so they could make it to school on time. After all, it was not as though Kurosaki-san was focused anywhere else other than his son's room as his plate remained untouched and tea had gone cold.

The tears of the Kurosaki twins made the Last Quincy wish that any spiritually aware human could learn form a spirit weapon to wield.

Uryū should not have let his guard down like that, making a friend. He should have known better; he was the last Quincy, it was the Shinigamis' mission to make the Quincy line despair themselves out of existence. He would have to act quickly, during lunch, to keep the Shinigami from going after Sado-kun or the Kurosaki twins as well. After all, it was not as though it had much power right now. Sado-kun would understand why the innocent looking murderer had to die. It's not like anyone else would think that she had gotten hit by anything other than lightning, anyways.

Ichigo fell weightlessly into his inner world, landing on top of the skyscrapers that made up the section dedicated to the Catwalk and part of Thunderstorm's power in the half of his inner world in the dark of Moonrise. Above him was both the moon and his Center Tree, where he felt he needed to head to. Planting his foot on the glass of lit the skyscraper; Ichigo began to walk vertically towards the ground as though he was walking on a normal sidewalk.

Gravity in Ichigo's inner world was odd starting off, curving inversely like in those science fiction stories involving space colonies with the sky in the middle and the ground on the edges. This was made worse in his skyscraper city by the fact that Catwalk made the user travel vertically. Ichigo had decided some time ago that the only reason he was not thoroughly confused by it was because it belonged to him. His Center Tree was the tree that seemed to reflect his wellbeing and, if Ichigo was right, the sign of his link to Shiranui-sama from some of the things he had found hanging off the branches. It was also one of the only places that you could not tell how off gravity actually was in this world. The other places were in areas considered 'indoors' and the sky was not visible.

Reaching the end of the skyscraper, Ichigo grabbed the convenient metal sheet and dropped it on the metal rail that connected through most of his inner world. Charging the railing with electricity, Ichigo surfed, for lack of a better term, out of the skyscraper city with Magnetism, passed the workshop that held Rejuvenation, using Guidance to reach the railway on the other side of the river that divided night and day; the source of which held Waterspout. Continuing on pass the windmill that held Galestorm and the path to the mountains with lightning rods that caught Thunderbolts to power the electricity in his inner world, Ichigo relished the feeling of sunlight on his skin even if it was only a product of his mind.

Maybe once he would have never thought much of the outdoors and sunshine; but with Ichigo's duties of being a Celestial Envoy often causing him to head into areas and do tasks that many but the best and most dedicated yamibushi would likely balk at, the teen had gained an appreciation for both the outdoors of the wild and the sprawling cityscapes of man's civilization. It probably also affected his appreciation of such things in that he associated sunlight to Shiranui-sama and plant life in general to Sakuya-hime, both of whom had eased the void of loneliness left by his mother's death. They could never replace her, and never did they ever try, but the presence of female, mothering figures that Ichigo did not have to worry over the safety of and could turn to had lifted a heavy burden from his shoulders.

Entering the grove of flowers and trees that held the Greensprout, Ichigo slowed down and pulled to a stop in front of the path that led to the tree. The metal sheet vanished as he stood away from it and began to walk; Ichigo never bothered to connect the Tree directly to the rest of the network. He always found the walk meditative and relaxing despite the fact that it was ironic as Ichigo could only be in here if he was meditating. However, the walk lost its relaxing quality as he got closer to the Tree. Visible from a distance, Ichigo could make out frost cover flowers and grass, icicles hanging from the lower limbs of the Tree, generally looking like bomb had gone off except instead of burning it froze. The ice was already melting under the intensity of the summer sun, but the fact that there was ice here in the Summer at all was worrisome. At least Ichigo now knew what lead his father and the others to be so worried about.

Ichigo paused before cresting the hill as he heard sounds that should not have been. In his inner world, there was rarely anything other than the sound of the wind through the trees or the babbling of the flowing water. Only on a few occasions had Ichigo heard the sounds of what would constitute of normal wildlife (birdsong, squirrel chatter, yips from foxes and other creatures) while meditating and that had only been when he had started extremely content and more than happy. Now he heard the sound of something struggling. Unconsciously calling a sword from Powerslash, Ichigo stalked up the rest of the hill. The sword vanished before Ichigo could notice it as he saw what was making the noises.

Seeming trapped within the roots of Ichigo's Center Tree, a young woman in a white formal kimono with an extremely pale purple and yellow obi was pushing futilely against the roots of the tree. From the hiccupping sounds, Ichigo guessed that the spirit (Yuki-ona?) was crying or very close to it as she wriggled from side to side, exceedingly pale lavender, almost white, hair falling from two hair clips that Ichigo had a sinking feeling matched Rukia's eyes. By the time Ichigo arrived at the base of the tree, the woman screamed in frustration.

"Damn you!" the woman wailed, slamming her fists against the tree, adding another layer of frost to the roots around her. "I don't want to be here! Let me go!"

"Hey!"

The woman shrieked, pale blue eyes wide with surprise and wet with tears. She shrank back as far away from Ichigo as she could, terror easily apparent in her eyes. Her shoulders quaked as her mouth worked soundlessly before she began to hiccup in earnest.

"Hey," Ichigo repeated, softer this time, hands open in front of him in a not threatening manner. "It's alright, you're alright, I'm not going to hurt you." Right thing or wrong thing to say, the woman began to weep. Throwing caution (and the fact he could be frozen) to the wind, Ichigo quickly knelt in front of the woman and pulled her to his shoulder and began to rub soothing circles on her back the same way that Kimura-san and Tomiko-hime did to their children when they were upset. "Shush, shush. You'll be okay."

"I want to go home!" the young woman wailed. "It's too warm here! I don't want to die!"

"I don't want you to die, either," Ichigo assured. "What's your name?"

"I will not tell you!" the woman snapped as she jerked herself away from the teen, suddenly angry. "Only my Rukia may use me and call my name!"

"Easy, there, easy," Ichigo said soothingly, eying the hardening frost. "Forgot you weren't human for a second. I have no interest in taking your name and gaining your powers, I already have some powers over ice. Though, you must admit, that it might be useful to know as I am trying to remove you from my mind."

"I do not know why I should," the Yuki-ona denied. "You are not even Nejibana-sama's new wielder! Your soul holds a different spirit all together!"

Ichigo blinked in confusion. "Nejibana?" the Celestial Envoy queried. "Is that a spirit you knew?"

"She belonged to Kaien-dono," the Yuki-ona sniffled. "We had to kill him because he got infected by a hollow. Ukitake-taichō said it was not our fault; that it was his own as a captain because he did not act in time to save Kaien-dono. It does not mean much though; after all I was the one to fell the blow. You look so much like him, I thought that at least I would be able to speak to Nejibana-sama again if I was trapped here. But that Zanpakutō down there isn't anything like Nejibana-sama, all cool and dark without any seas or tides and it's too warm up here, and I _want to go home!"_

"Maybe that just means that my sisters or I will have a child with the seas and tides to hold your Nejibana-sama," Ichigo soothed, intrigued at how much the Yuki-ona was willing to say instead of her name. He wondered if that meant Rukia would respond the same way, giving away a lot of information that was probably classified to anyone in the living world before divulging her own name, which would be rather inconsequential in the long run. "What is the name that I would need to give the sword of the brave Shinigami Kuchiki Rukia, who continues to weep for the lost seas and tides when I pass this story on to my descendants?"

"Sode no Shirayuki," the Zanpakutō said proudly, "the most beautiful Zanpakutō in all of Seireitei."

"See, Shirayuki-san," Ichigo said teasingly, "that wasn't so bad."

The yuki-ona of a Zanpakutō stared at the Celestial Envoy with horror. Unfortunately for Ichigo, it quickly turned into rage. "You tricked me!" she shrieked, waves of frost rolling off her, Ichigo having to pull on his skill of Blizzard to not be harmed or other wised embarrassed.

"Sorry, sorry," Ichigo shouted. "But if you are stuck in my soul, it is probably prudent that I know your name so I can command you to return to your wielder."

The Zanpakutō spirit stopped. "Oh," Sode no Shirayuki said. "Why did you not just say so?"

Ichigo sighed in despair. "I thought that I had made that clear."

"Oh. Sorry."

"Not a problem."

"Right then," the yuki-ona said decisively, straightening her kimono as much as she could being in such an awkward position. "Let us start this then."

"Right," Ichigo agreed, treading along the roots carefully. Was this really a common facet of women? "First things first." The teen cleared his throat in what he thought was an officious manner and gently laid his hand on top of Sode no Shirayuki's head. "I, Kurosaki Ichigo, student and envoy of Shiranui, the wolf of the returning dawns, and Celestial Envoy of Takamagahara bid the Zanpakutō, Sode no Shirayuki, return to her Shinigami partner, Kuchiki Rukia." There was a small flare of power but otherwise nothing else happened. "Right track at least."

"Is it relevant that she is an adoptive member of the Kuchiki clan and is a member of the Thirteenth division of the thirteen court guards of the Seireitei?" the Zanpakutō asked, glaring at the roots as if they were horrendously insulting. Shrugging his shoulders, Ichigo tried again.

"I, Kurosaki Ichigo, student and envoy of Shiranui, the wolf of the returning dawns, and Celestial Envoy of Takamagahara bid the Zanpakutō, Sode no Shirayuki, return to her Shinigami master, Kuchiki Rukia, adoptive member of the Kuchiki clan and member of the Thirteenth division of the Thirteen court guards of the Court of Pure Souls," Ichigo pronounced again, trying to consciously guide the tug on the foreign spirit, though it ultimately failed again. "Right, how many more variations do you want to try?"

They tried it a few more time, adding in from district 78 and 'Savior of the Tama Hills Tanuki' among other ridiculous things ('Fleer of the hordes of kits?' 'Hey, you try and deal with Kitsune and Tanuki babies that may or may not be Hanyō on sugar highs and not wish to claim the same!'), but ultimately ended in failure. Ichigo frowned at the roots while Shirayuki glared at nothing in particular, a flush bright on her cheeks. The flush actually worried the Celestial Envoy as he could not tell if it was from emotion or a sign of Shiranui-sama's power over powering the much weaker Zanpakutō spirit. Kneeling against the roots, Ichigo tried to feel the damage in the tree.

"How exactly are you stuck down there?" the teenager asked. "I cannot feel any of the sharp edges I would normally expect from someone crashing through an older portion of a tree under your ice."

"That's because you are viewing me as a spirit and not a Zanpakutō," the yuki-ona sighed. Waving her arms, she continued, "Try looking at me like this." Shirayuki's form wavered before revealing an ice cold blade leaning out from a hole punctured into the roots of the tree.

The hole itself was truly not large enough for a person of the yuki-ona's size to fit all the way, explaining why he was unable to see the tearing before. At the end of the hilt, a long, white ribbon hung tied up around the deeper roots of the tree. Beyond these roots, there looked to be something resembling at tunnel, though Ichigo could not tell where it led. Leaning into the hole slightly, making sure not to stab himself on the Zanpakutō as he did so, he pulled at the blur between him and the end of the ribbon. Ichigo blinked at the knotted red ribbons that this produced. One seemed to extend from him and down through the dark passages beneath the tree, the other from the end of the ribbon and what must have been out of his soul.

"That doesn't look great," Ichigo said dryly, leaning back away from the hole. The form of the sword blurred back into a yuki-ona.

"Oh no," the woman gasped. "Is it my ribbon? It got torn, didn't it? I did not feel any damage to it, but I cannot really tell with all of the roots it is wrapped around. I'm ugly now, aren't I?" The woman began to sniffle again.

"No, no, no; nothing like that," Ichigo corrected quickly, not really liking to deal with crying women even though he has been forced into enough situations over the years to keep the situation from getting worse, in most cases. "It just looks like the thread that binds you to Rukia-san got wrapped around the one that binds me to my Zanpakutō. Though I'm not sure how that happened, I should not have access to a Zanpakutō until I die."

"You are right, that isn't very good," the Zanpakutō spirit agreed, calming down with the knowledge of the actual situation. "The fact that you can access some of your Shinigami powers is not so much a problem as the reiraku being tied together. In order for you to use my power, I had to break through the boundary between your being alive and your being dead; thus, the hole in the tree. But I don't know how to fix tied together when I'm stuck like this."

"I guess I can ask the spirits in the area," Ichigo said with a frown, scratching the back of his neck as he stood. "If nothing else, they can pass word up to Shiranui-sama and Sakuya-hime for advice. It won't be a quick fix, though we can probably get word back to your commanding officer relatively quickly if you and Rukia cannot as you are now."

"I guess I cannot ask for more," the winter spirit said morosely.

"Don't worry," Ichigo repeated, patting the yuki-ona on the head. "I'll make sure you and Rukia get home safely. All I ask is that you be a bit patient as we are likely to have to go through the dreaded powers of bureaucracy to get everything sorted."

"Ugh," the spirit gasped with a shudder. "I hate politics."

"It was Shiranui-sama's dislike of politics that led to her being available to teach me so I cannot hate it in its entirety," Ichigo said with a shrug. Turning with a wave, the teen continued, "Let me rearrange in here so you don't melt and I can leave and work on how to make sure your Rukia can get home safe."

The actual process of rearranging his inner world in a way that would allow for the Zanpakutō to survive in the precarious position of being trapped by Shiranui-sama's power was actually easier than one would expect. As Shiranui-sama was the guardian and embodiment of the Tenraifude-ryū, she had power over Blizzard and had the capacity to let a winter spirit stay in her presence without problem. Therefore, as her student, Ichigo had the ability to allow a winter spirit stay in his inner world. Usually, Ichigo had the area around his center tree reflect the current season (presently, late spring/early summer) through the close arrangement of the brush token for Sunrise, Greensprout, and Mist which allowed for the Inner world to show the passage of the seasons (and time if he thinks about it as he is coming in). To make his inner world to reflect winter, all he had to do was place the ox statue for Blizzard near the tree and the season would change.

Having never left the change longer than a session of practice, Ichigo left the quickly retrieved statue in the care of Sode no Shirayuki. The Zanpakutō clutched the statue tightly as she watched with small wonder as the bright and warm summer day became a crisp and frosty winter one, the bright and green leafed tree rippling into a dormant leafless one. Quickly ascending to full consciousness, Ichigo took stock of his health as he did a full set of stretches, sighing in relief as he noticed that the flu like ache vanished. Changing quickly into his school uniform, Ichigo was silently grateful that he had a tendency to do most of his homework before coming home as he grabbed his supplies and headed down stairs to where he could hear a friendly by play going on between his father and what sounded like one of the clinic's regulars and Kimura-san. Now if only he could convince his father to accept taking in the injured Shinigami (where ever she was now) without making a fuss over it.

* * *

yoki- I believe that is the proper term from the yokai equivalent for reiki and maybe reiryoko in general

Yuki-ona- snow woman, believed to be the spirit of a woman who died in a snow storm or some other form of female winter spirit. generally considered a neutral entity.

Sorry this is late, Camp Nanowrimo has started and I have been focusing on writing, rather than any editing, and forgot to go back and post on the weekend. thank you to everyone who reviewed!

* Spoilers*

I am not gong to be following all of the new stuff being put into cannon exactly. While Ichigo might go dual wield at some part in the future, if I haven't already said it, Zangetsu is Zangetsu to me and I already had come up with an explanation for Hollow Ichigo and Zangetsu before I started writing. In any case, the Thousand Year Blood War arch is still a long ways away and wont be covered in this story but in a possible sequel if I feel up to it by the time I get to that point. See you all next time!


	5. The Sleeping Dragons

Chapter 4: The Sleeping Dragons

Arisawa Tatsuki frowned as she surveyed the room. Keigo and Mizuiro showed signs of being worried about Ichigo but were not overly so; after all, he could survive gods and demons, a car that did not even hit him was not going to kill him (even if everyone that knew him personally knew that the story was a lie and that something else happened to Ichigo). Orihime was worried but more in the 'he is my crush, I don't want him hurt' sort of way; knowing the unfortunate reality that Ichigo really could be grievously injured and dying but rejecting those thoughts out of hand. Sado-kun was calm, confident in Ichigo's durability, except for frequent glances at Ishida-kun. Not without cause either.

Ishida, according to Mizuiro, had been at the Kurosaki home when he had gone over to join up with Ichigo to come to class; finding the agitated introvert instead. From what Mizuiro was able to gleam from the teen's father, who is the director of the hospital and personal friend of Kurosaki Patriarch, they arrived after the 'car accident' that took out a wall and Ichigo was already passed out from stress exhaustion. They were to be assured that the scowly, orange haired teenager would be back at school the next day. Ishida, despite not being overtly obvious, had looked like he wanted to commit murder, or at least, some serious battery when he caught sight of the new transfer, Kuchiki Rukia. Tatsuki wondered if it was because of the slightly off feeling she gave or if Ishida knew more than what was being said. All she could tell with her own senses was that Kuchiki-san seemed to be looking worriedly at the door as though she was waiting for someone to come in, too.

Tatsuki glanced at the clock for the nth time that day. Thirty minutes till lunch and Ichigo still had yet to show up. She did not know why she expected him to; his family had officially called the school to let them know of the absence, but she felt like that it was important Ichigo arrived before then. Tatsuki called it a gut instinct; you did not need to be a Celestial Envoy staring down yokai who did not care if a person died or not to recognize a situation about to get ugly. Someone knocked on the classroom door and the whole room snapped their attention to it.

'Please be Ichigo, please be Ichigo,' Tatsuki prayed silently as their Sensei stopped her lecture and pulled open the door. Tatsuki nearly went boneless with relief at the sight of Ichigo's orange hair bowing politely.

"My apologies for being late and interrupting class, sensei," the teen stated as he straightened. The martial artist cringed at the dark circles visible on the Celestial Envoy's face from where she sat at the back of the room. He certainly looked like he got hit by the metaphysical car that left a hole in his house. "I would have waited for the end the period to join, but I did not remember if there was a test this period and I had hoped to catch up if that was the case."

"Kurosaki-kun, I am surprised to see you at all," their Sensei told him. "Your father said that you were home sick."

"He worries too much," Ichigo dismissed, obviously waiting for their sensei to clear the doorway so he could enter. "Overly warm and overly tired doesn't make one sick."

"If you say so," their Sensei relented, stepping aside. "Ochi-sensei had placed a late transfer next to you before you were marked as absent. I'm certain your classmates can continue to help her out if you are not feeling up to it. And the test is scheduled for next week."

"No worries, I can do it," Ichigo said quickly. Tatsuki gave a speculative frown as a few of the stress lines vanished from his face as he walked around to his aisle, leaving a note for Ishida as he walked passed; smooth enough that the only reason Tatsuki noticed was because she was expecting it. Was he relieved to see the transfer? Did she really have something to do with last night?

She must have, Tatsuki amended to herself as she noted that the transfer also seemed relieved at Ichigo's appearance; giving a small, shy wave in response to Ichigo's careless one as he sat down as Sensei continued the end of her lecture. Tatsuki did not know why she bothered; it was not like half the class was not paying her any mind anymore. At least Ishida did not look like he was going to murder anyone any time soon. Not that he looked completely pacified either. Tatsuki could sympathize; anyone with 'dragon' in their name had to have a ferocious rage somewhere in them. It was why the martial artist was sure to not let it build up too much; since becoming a Celestial Envoy, Ichigo learned a whole new set of stories about dragons. Including how many 'freak natural disasters' were really blinded by anger dragons on a rampage. Europe had _reasons_ for thinking all of their dragons were spawns of demons and disaster.

The bell rang for lunch to start, leaving their sensei to end class lamely as the class stopped paying attention all together. Almost as one, the class turned to stare at Ichigo. Ichigo stared back with his bland 'this is a waste of my time' look. When the curious students didn't back down (Ishida, Sado, Keigo, Mizuiro, Orihime and Tatsuki herself just packed up their bags to move to where they normally had lunch), Ichigo sighed and glared at them with a slouch and a scowl. "There is, presently, a rather bored Kitsune pretending to be my wall so my Dad can treat patients in peace," Ichigo declared carelessly. "Do you want me to give him any of your addresses?" The class fled. "Che, cowards."

"They probably remember the Nogitsune," Sado pointed out as he pulled up his bag over his shoulder.

"I think only the very stubborn will forget the Nogitsune," Mizuiro said with a sigh as he led the way out of the room.

"Why are we talking about Nogitsune?" the transfer said suddenly, making her continued presence known. The way her hand was twitching, it looked as though she wanted to either cling to or drag Ichigo off.

"Oh, you missed it," Orihime said companionably as though the outsider was not an outsider at all. "At the beginning of the school year, a Nogitsune started tormenting the school. Kurosaki-kun, Sado-kun, and Ishida-kun were able to subdue it before anyone got hurt."

"It was young enough that it was more comparable to a teenage gangster rather than a full grown Yakuza hit man," Ichigo explained, scratching his head in embarrassment. "It took a while to convince the superintendent of the school that the classrooms that were destroyed were the best case scenario and not suspend us."

"At least the police super is a friend of yours so he took our side," Keigo said.

"It was hardly 'our' side, Asano-san," Mizuiro interjected. "We barely did more than hide."

"So cruel!"

"Of course I'm sure Kuchiki-san, I believe we were told that was your name, has better things to do than listen to us go on," Ishida broke in, glancing at the shorter teen sideways.

"Not really," Ichigo corrected with a grimace. Tatsuki shared a glance with everyone else as Ishida's grip spasmed on his bag. A heavy silence fell over their group as they went up to the roof, their unofficial school yard base of operation. Once everyone was clear of the doorway, Tatsuki slammed the door shut and bolted the door to keep any of the other students from wandering up. The only way on or off the roof was the side of the building; a feat she knew Ichigo could pull off but would likely avoid while in his obviously poor condition.

"Alright," Tatsuki declared with her talk or get beaten to a pulp tone. "One of you needs to explain what is going on. Now."

Kuchiki's eyes narrowed in a way made Tatsuki think that this serious face was her more normal look even while Ichigo huffed and pressed his lips together. His eyes cut across to Keigo, Mizuiro, and Orihime. "You three," he said in his Celestial Envoy voice, the one that was comparable to anyone in a command of a team that risks their lives semi-regularly. "Corner. Now."

"What!" Keigo cried exaggeratedly. Tatsuki knew that he would probably shake off any hurt feelings relatively easily as he was relatively aware of his limitations and knew that Ichigo was aware of them, too, and would not tell him to back off if he did not think it was beyond Keigo's capabilities.

"Of course," Mizuiro said with a sigh.

"No!" Orihime protested bravely.

"Inoue-"

"You're hurt," she continued, her voice wobbling dangerously as she stared down Ichigo. "Maybe not badly, or maybe it's not a physical hurt, but it is in a way that makes me worried. And I want to know what happened so if it really isn't a problem anymore, I can have the facts so I can keep my mind quiet and not make me worried needlessly."

"This is a dryer socks situation, though," Ichigo warned. "Nogitsune kind of dryer socks. Once you know it you can't un-know it."

"Considering we have already been exposed to Nogitsune," Mizuiro pointed out dryly, "It might be better if we have an idea of what is coming so we know how to run from it."

"If you are sure," Ichigo drawled, eying the three down to see if they would waver.

"Ichigo," the transfer hissed under her breath. Ichigo waved her down.

"I like knowing what the bad guys look like," Keigo pointed out, holding himself still under Ichigo's scrutiny. "I don't like getting caught in a situation where I am suddenly about to be pounded by thugs I would have avoided if I knew they existed."

Ichigo nodded with a frown. "Just as long as you know that I can't tell you everything as you do not have the Takamagahara seal of access," Ichigo told them. "But you're right, you do deserve to know the general situation so you can react accordingly."

Orihime beamed as Tatsuki leaned against the roof door. The martial artist wondered how much the story was going to change after the three left.

"The quick version is this," Ichigo said plainly, eyes bouncing back in forth between Ishida and Kuchiki; neither of them looked terribly pleased. "Kuchiki-san is under my protection until further notice. I was injured when the power under her command called 'Sode no Shirayuki' slipped from her control when one of the things I was supposed to be keeping an eye out for when she had a chance to inform me attacked her while we were talking and I had to act in her stead. Since her power is Yuki-ona ice based, it took a while for my power, which is more closely aligned, at the moment, to spring and summer Kodama, to adjust to the shock of being caught in the ice based energy.

"The long version," Ichigo continued as Kuchiki seemed to relax some though she still seemed to eye him oddly. "Kuchiki-san is from an isolated village in the north, near to where Shiranui-sama and Sakuya-hime are going to be later in the summer. The large majority of the people in her village have special abilities tied into the local kami powers. Her school's master, Ukitake-san, was worried over her safety after his second and his wife, Shiba-san, were killed by an unknown monster that Kuchiki-san was able to kill more out of luck than skill. Because this was only one in a series of odd monsters, Ukitake-san wanted Kuchiki-san out of danger; like in witness protection. Because her brother has a close friendship with the kodama of their sakura grove, he contacted Sakuya-hime and Shiranui-sama offered me as a form of protection. Kuchiki-san only arrived last night with her letter of introduction when one of the monsters that followed her dropped in. It had the ability to disrupt the energy flow of anyone it hits so rather than a column of ice that froze the monster, there was a wave of ice that got me too. Adrenaline kept me up until after we killed it, at which point I passed out."

"So, you are okay now, right?" Orihime asked, her voice a little brighter than it had been.

"Another night of sleep and I should be fully recovered," Ichigo agreed. Orihime beamed happily though Keigo spoke before she could.

"So how do we know if we are being chased by one of these things?" Keigo asked, shaking with a reasonable level of fear.

"While I doubt they are creatures that will take notice of you yet," Ishida explained. "They wear masks and have holes in their chests."

"If you can see them and they refuse to remove their mask," Ichigo continued, "or do not identify themselves when you ask as a kind of Tsukumogami, assume that they are one these creatures. We should have a couple of days as a grace period where I'll be setting up some warded areas to act as safe zones around town so people can run to them if they are being chased, but the local Yokai are presently making themselves more present than the police force is normally so praying out loud to any of the kami for the area or one of the major deities should get you aid before they return to their normal level of vigilance."

"So they Yokai are presently doing 'Neighborhood Watch: Yokai Edition' like most quiet areas do after violent crimes?" Mizuiro asked.

"Pretty much," Ichigo confirmed. "Good thing about beings with strong territorial instincts is that they are very thorough in finding things that do not belong."

"Are they covering Naruki City?" Keigo asked, reminding Tatsuki that he actually lived in a different city from them all together.

"The whole of Shiranui-sama's territorial domain is under heightened watch, which includes Naruki City," Ichigo confirmed again. Keigo sighed with relief while the Celestial Envoy continued, "The rest of the details are confidential, though, so if you all could go over there while we talk specifics and strategy…."

"Of course," Mizuiro sad calmly as he started walking towards the far end of the roof. "Come along, Asano-san, Inoue-san."

The five remaining teens watched as the three others got out of earshot, talking amongst themselves happily. A few moments passed before Sado-kun broke the silence. "I thought that fallen souls were not something we needed to directly concern ourselves with?" he asked lowly.

"Going to have to," Ichigo said with some unease, motioning to the transfer student. "Rukia-san is the newly assigned Shinigami patroller for Karakura. When she got injured last night, she tried to pass along enough of her power for me to wield her Zanpakutō, Sode no Shirayuki, like she's supposed to but instead of jumping across a small fissure to solid ground and then jump back across, I now have a Yuki-ona type weapon stuck in my soul.

"Of which," he continued, his attention focused of the transfer, the Shinigami, "Shirayuki-san apologizes for giving away so much confidential information, especially since I did not inherited Nejibana, but my lawyer wanted to be sure that you were not directly responsible for last night and made me press her for more details. Though the information we got from her made us think that what happened to your fukutaichō was possibly related. I mean, this was supposed to be a safe assignment."

"That's alright," the Shinigami said with a down casted look. "I'm just glad she is alright. I can't believe I did not notice that my reiatsu control was affected before this happened."

"My Dad pointed out it might have been an act of Shiranui-sama as she had been evoked by that time," Ichigo added, looking even more embarrassed than before. "Part of my contract with her is that I would always have the means to protect myself, and until you passed over Sode no Shirayuki, I did not have the means to properly defend myself from the Hollow."

"If I may ask," Ishida interrupted. "What exactly is it that is making these Hollows different to be of note?"

"The one last night had regeneration comparable to a Menos class Hollow in addition to its ability to disrupt energy flow, and I could not get a fix on how much strength it actually had," Ichigo answered. "The one that killed her fukutaichō, the second strongest in her entire division, invaded his body and started to eat him from the inside after breaking apart his Zanpakutō."

Tatsuki grimaced with disgust even as Ishida adopted a stricken look and greened a little. "My condolences, Kuchiki-san," Ishida said honestly, almost as though he was surprised at himself for feeling that way. "I suppose you killed it before it completely succeeded?" At her weak nod, he continued. "I think you gave your superior a commendable favor by ending it cleanly. Being purified by Zanpakutō is the only thing I can think of to remove such influences from a soul cleanly, as much as I am to loath to admit it."

"How do you all know so much?" Kuchiki-san asked. "Mortals aren't supposed to be involved in the affairs of Soul Society."

"We usually end our involvement with the dead with the wellbeing of normal ghosts that have recently died," Tatsuki answered, opening her lunch box. "It is hard for us to ignore them entirely because all four of us can see ghost clearly, now. We usually just work with Yokai, though, for the exact reasons you said."

"I'm more concerned with how the Hollow got near enough to damage your house, Ichigo," Sado-kun pointed out as he did the same.

Ichigo grimaced and pulled out some items from his backpack. Tatsuki realized that they were three of the warding ofuda that he used for his home and the schools. "These are one from each of the ward from my home, the girl's school, and here. I assume that this is also the case for the Hospital, Uryū-kun, but I was already going out of my way to get here by stopping by to see Karin and Yuzu first to stop and check." Ichigo flipped them over so that bulk of the omamori warding was visible. Tatsuki inhaled sharply at the revealed sabotage.

"Is that the portion that actually wards away dark spirits?" Sado-kun asked, eyes narrowed with controlled anger.

"Yeah," Ichigo said with a dissatisfied frown. "I'm going to have to make a completely different ward scheme now. This design was picked because it is strong for its relatively simple design. The major flaw was exposed in this event."

"How do we know that the Shinigami were not actually involved with this," Ishida asked, giving Kuchiki-san a suspicious look.

"I can't say that there was not a Shinigami involved," Ichigo answered. "But Sode no Shirayuki is a part of Rukia-san's soul and is in a position where lying to me is rather impossible without my knowing. She says that they were preforming their duties as they were taught to do so, so I believe that is what Rukia-san was doing, and by doing so, gave me enough time for me and my family to act and not be caught by surprise and killed.

"You should also note that, as far as Soul Society is concerned, Rukia-san is a commoner born, heir by default through sibling adoption of one of the highest ranked noble families in a feudal system closer to how it was two hundred years ago," Ichigo continued after Ishida gave a derisive snort. "This could be purely politicians gone stupid and either did not really know what we stood for, or hoped to direct Shiranui-sama's anger at either Rukia-san or at the Kuchiki clan on a greater whole. We going to have to do all we can to investigate from here."

"What if they, whoever they are, were targeting you specifically and Kuchiki-san's interference was unexpected," Tatsuki asked, stating what she thought should have been obvious.

"That is how the yokai perceive this and are perusing that front," Ichigo said. "Until then, if you are confronted by a Hollow, Takamagahara will cover any defeat or destruction of said Hollow as a necessary means to defend its interests. I do ask that you give me an opportunity to purify them as a Shinigami would if at all possible to maintain status quo as much as possible."

"Roger."

"Hm."

"Just know that if you are lagging to an unacceptable level, I will make full use of my skills, regardless," Ishida aquested grumpily.

"You will likely be handed more of the jobs that you will actually get accessible money from with my being more unavailable to perform the Shinigami duties," Ichigo pointed out.

"As long as my buttons do not get eaten, I believe we are at an acceptable compromise," Ishida said, changing his tune quickly at the prospect of having more relatively easy (or at least, fun) jobs for a better than average pay. Most people do not get asked to take items of seemingly junk value across town (or prefecture) for the equivalent of a few hundred dollars. Not that it was always as easy as that; but Tatsuki remembered the look of pride on Ishida's face a couple of weeks ago when, armed with a normal bow and arrow, Ishida had been the one to force a crow tengu to drop a stolen hoshi-no-tama by startling it with an arrow through its flight feathers when it had successfully dodged Ichigo's own attempts at knocking it out with Tenraifude techniques.

"Do you really have a heavy work load as a Celestial Envoy?" Kuchiki asked after a while of eating, when the others were waved back over, signaling the end of the classified discussion. "My family is not unaware of the Celestial Envoys, but I do not think any of us have actually encountered one for over a thousand years so the basics are we really know."

"We probably do more than the proper job description," Ichigo confessed. "But a lot of the yokai are unsatisfied with the current situation with the human's casual disregard of their existence and a lack of proper priests. Having a group of humans that acknowledge their existence and work to sooth the tension between them and humans, even if it is just having the opportunity to order some humans around, has boosted general moral of the whole nation's yokai population."

"It helps that you have a success story that made national headlines," Mizuiro pointed out. Ichigo just shrugged.

"Sorry for my ignorance," Rukia said politely. "But we do not always get the same news back home that you do most everywhere else. What headlines are you talking about? Or is this about the Nogitsune that you were talking about earlier?"

"That is quite alright, Kuchiki-san," Mizuiro said happily with a light flirty tone. "It happened a few years ago; everyone in Western Tokyo remembers it well because it affected urban development of the Tama hills area."

"There was a plan for a large development to be built in an area to the south east of here that would clear out the majority of the rest of the flatland forests in Western Tokyo," Orihime picked up. "But the Tama Hills was home to the large majority of Kanto yokai; most prominently, the majority of the Tanuki clans."

"The different species were not organized together," Ichigo continued, adding his insight of being a participant. "But Shiranui-sama eventually got requests from the large majority of the different populations when they heard that she had taken me on as a human student and representative even though the majority of the area slated to be torn down was outside her territory. With Karakura and the surrounding areas already developed except for the mountains that already have their own long standing population, she could not offer sanctuary to the would be displaced yokai, so she requested and was granted my becoming the Celestial envoy of Takamagahara in order to have me act in her stead outside her territory. As I was just beginning to learn from her, I was mostly just used as a mouth piece to the media and other human organizations. It just stuck afterwards."

"Eventually there was a big wildlife preservation protest and a Ghost Parade with all of the illusion casters trading off to make cool tricks," Orihime added exuberantly. "Some of them even made a Gundam illusion! It was so cool!"

"Eventually, between the human protesters and the acts of yokai that politicians did not want to openly acknowledge but had no evidence to pin it on the protestors, the greater majority of the remaining Tama Hill forests was turned into a wildlife reserve and nature park," Mizuiro finished as the warning bell for the end of the lunch period rang and everyone hurried to finish their lunch and pack up.

"In short," Tatsuki said as she opened the door to go down stairs, "There is a greater demand of people like us than there is a supply so we can get busy easily. We are even working on becoming a legitimate business."

"I see," the secret Shinigami said brightly. "I'll do what I can to not burden your work to much with my presence."

Urahara Kisuke, former Shinigami Captain and R&D President, swung his cane that was a sword as he easily dodged the 'sane people' on the street. Really, what made them sane for not seeing thing that went on in front of their noses was beyond him. Then again, even other Shinigami seemed to think he was crazy and they could see the same things he did. Perhaps there was more to the genius' getting along with his Tanuki and Kitsune clients (oh the wonders of knowing where to look for a demographic to sell to) than he did with many other people than he originally thought. Oh well, there was so much to be happy over, Kisuke just _had_ to come by and tell his dear friend.

Stopping in front of the Kurosaki Clinic, Kisuke hummed to himself before going past the entrance to look at the hole in the wall. Or at least what should be a hole in the wall. "Oh my," the genius gasped breezily. "I was told that there was a terrible accident that happened here, yet all I see is a couple of grooves in the ground. Hardly the sight of terror I was told to expect."

"We cleaned up most of last night," the wall answered serenely. "Are you a friend of Kurosaki-sensei, Shinigami-san?"

Kisuke blinked at the wall, hiding his surprise. He knew the wall was a Kitsune; somewhat hard to miss now that he knew what to look for. He also knew that, despite his measures to hide from Seireitei, they did not prevent a Shinigami of his power to hide what he was from masters of transformation. Never had one assumed that he was friends with the Kurosaki's, though. "What makes you say that, Kitsune-san?" he asked in the same breezy tone.

"You can drop the act, Urahara-san," the former captain of the tenth said from behind the 'wall'. "Apparently healing Kido leaves a telling energy signature that declares the user from Soul Society if you know how to look at it. As far as the Kitsune are concerned, I've ousted myself."

Kisuke allowed his face to drop to his more normal look of solemn resignation. "So, your son knows then?" he asked heavily, leaning against the part of the wall that was actually a wall.

"Not yet," the other man sighed with the same weight. "They seem to be willing to let me hang myself or regain enough power to do a show and tell. Whichever comes first." The wall rippled and the dark hair of the other man popped through the wall. "You might as well come inside. We are only hearing each other because I've asked this guy to, so it's private enough."

"Ah, but I was going to take you to lunch if were free," Kisuke fluttered, snapping his fan open as he did so.

Isshin gave the other man a look that said that they both knew that meant that the mad genius did something more mad than genius. "Sure, I guess," Isshin grumbled. "I'll see you out front." Kisuke snapped his fan shut as the other man's head disappeared back into the house and walked calmly back around the building. It did not take long for the two former captains to be strolling down the street. They both side stepped into an alley where Kisuke grabbed Isshin securely and flashed them away.

"Now that we are well and truly secured," Isshin said dryly when they were sitting in the genius' home, a cup of tea being set in front of him by the former Kido corps commander. "What did you want to tell me?"

"I put the Shinigami and hōgyoku into an untraceable gigai," the former twelfth division captain said bluntly. "If I'm right, Soul Society should think her becoming human a result of her bouncing off a Celestial Envoy. Ichigo has the authority of Takamagahara pretty much whenever he wants to, so it is more than believable. Everything that we have regarding the interactions of Takamagahara and Seireitei says that the sōtaichō will not risk getting them angry and should order Shinigami to steer clear."

"The girl is a Kuchiki," Isshin argued. "This is not just going to go away that simply."

"Perhaps not," Kisuke had to agree. "But with hope, most of the problems will be dealt with in the political arena of the Central 46 and not with us."

"Since when are we that lucky?" the dark haired man grumbled.

Kisuke eyed the man carefully behind his fan. "Do you already know something that would make this ineffective?" the scientist asked.

"Ichigo was able to talk to the girl's Zanpakutō," Isshin told him not unkindly, but not too gently either. "Managed to get quite a bit, actually. The girl is already a part of the conspiracy, if an unwilling participant. She was there when the bastard got my cousin; put him out of his misery before he could do more damage. Ichigo linked that to the girl having had heard rumors of other strange Hollows to the one last night and knows that last night was a deliberate attack. He just can't get a fix on the intended target."

Kisuke contemplated that for a minute. The Kurosaki boy might not be a genius in the same way that Kisuke was, very few could boast that feat; but he was a highly intelligent individual if not a genius in his own right. Definitely more a kinetic learner than a scholastic learner, like Kisuke. Most assuredly one of those individuals that would have military leaders slobbering over each other to get with his combat intuition. Certainly could be more refined, but, even by human standards, Ichigo was young and the outline of his learning was broad enough that if he got dropped into a hotspot he would survive to learn from it with more than just guts. Honestly, Kisuke wished he could claim that eventual gem of combat prowess if only to have the right to shove it into the government of Soul Society's face. Unfortunately for the genius' dream of lording it over the ass-hats that made up the Gotei 13 and Central 46, Kisuke knew that if asked, Ichigo would claim the honest answer of it being Shiranui-kami (and maybe that police man the teen had a tendency to follow around when supernatural ran into mundane life) rather than a sad example of a scientist no matter if he begged. Perhaps he could teach him some scientific theories relevant to Soul Society? Too bad his conscious would not let him try to claim kido training from Tessai.

There was one thing for certain though; if Ichigo was working this like a detective would, the chances of Aizen being dealt with before things got worse just shot up exponentially, Kisuke's plans be damned. "What was his take on Kuchiki-san?" Kisuke finally asked.

"Thought she was being trained-to-be-arrogant Shinigami when she appeared until he realized that she was panicking and not being arrogant," Isshin answered. "He has determined her presence and insistence to check the wards the as only reason why everyone is still alive and, in turn, is making sure every Yokai in the area knows that she is under his protection. One of the sparrows that had been hanging around since last night offered to take word up to Takamagahara and Shiranui-sama, so the higher ups should know by the middle of next week at the latest. Everyone is to be vigilant otherwise. Kiko-san mentioned something about a notice board somewhere, but I don't know exactly what was supposed to be on it."

"Well," the genius said finally, "I'm thinking I should start planning things out with your son from now on. Think of what we could accomplish if we actually collaborated our plans? Even without communicating with each other, Ichigo-kun improved upon my plan. 'Show us what is rotting or else' rather than 'Back off or die'. Much more effective for rooting out traitors."

"What are you going to do about the Hōgyoku?" Isshin asked. "Ichigo is going to be looking for a way to return the Zanpakutō to Kuchiki-san so she can return to Seireitei. If it is still there…"

"I'll just remove it before she leaves then," Kisuke said easily, waving away his friend's worry. "I'll let her know that if she returns the gigai before she leaves she can get some of her money back. She has already placed an order for a gikon, so I'll let her know when she picks it up. Then it's just a matter of 'oops, something seems to have stuck to you, give me a moment please' and everything should be cleared up."

"They'll know where we are," Isshin persisted.

"As I said, your son is a Celestial Envoy for Takamagahara," the scientist continued in his airy, confident tone. "Who'd be moronic enough to get rolling a lynch mob of angry Kami directed at themselves?"

* * *

First off, let me know if I just posted the wrong thing. Second off, my apologies for taking so long. My grandfather just died and I couldn't muster myself to write for two weeks. I am writing again now, so I will be updating again, but his death has lead me to not renew my lease so I can move back to my home state so I can be closer to my family. This means I might not be updating regularly for another two months as I get ready to move half way across the country.

Story wise, I am going with the theory, as I honestly cannot fathom when Urahara would have put the Hogyoku into Rukia before this point, that Urahara just no put the Hogyoku into Rukia. Or was that covered during the turn back the pendulum arc?

Oh well.


End file.
